The Loud Effect
by Timothy D
Summary: The outbreak of a mysterious virus forever alters the fate of our favorite loud family with the side effect of endowing them with superpowers. Some become heroes and others villains, but no matter which path they choose, none of them can escape their family ties. Contains elements/references to the DCU/Marvel.
1. Issue 1: Spider-Ace

**Before this story begins, allow me to extend a sincere apology to the many people whose requests I have yet to fill. Admittedly, I became overwhelmed by the number of requests I had received and lost my passion for writing for a while. It wasn't until I came up with this idea that I regained some of that spark. I still intend on working on those requests, I just don't know when as I need some time to write something that I enjoy. To those of you I let down, I sincerely apologize.**

**With that issue addressed, I'd like to introduce you to a glimpse at my super powered Louds Alternate Universe. The first 12 chapters will be told from the perspective of one of the Louds. (Including my OC so a heads up in advance). Special thanks to my friend, Harbinger/EliteSlayer103 for helping me come up with a title for this fic. Another thanks to CreshToons for allowing me to use his OC, Chris for this story. **

Royal Woods, 6 June 20XX, that was the day that everything changed. It all happened so fast, I still struggle to process how it went down. Up until that day, our life was mostly normal; a bit Loud, but normal. Everything changed when a mysterious virus broke out in Royal Woods. Nobody knew the cause of the outbreak or where the virus had even come from, but it didn't matter. Our town was devastated by the outbreak with over 100,000 people dying during the epidemic, which unfortunately, included our parents. My siblings and I survived, but we'd never be the same after that. The virus in question wasn't your average run of the mill illness either, it was a special virus that endowed anyone who was exposed to and survived it whatever power they so desired. Since my siblings and I were all exposed to it early on, I think you can imagine what happened next. Royal Woods recovered rather quickly from the epidemic, rebuilding itself in no time. Mysteriously however, in the aftermath of all this, there were some residents who had gone missing and were assumed dead. My name is Lincoln Loud aka Spider-Ace and this is the story of my struggle to keep my city safe.

It was a mundane Wednesday night for me as I patrolled the city, keeping a close eye out for any signs of trouble. So far, things were quiet, not even so much as a purse snatching to thwart. However, I knew that wasn't going to last. I'd been doing this whole hero thing for 6 months now, things never remain tranquil for long. Sure enough as I swung from rooftop to rooftop, I received a call from my ever so helpful assistant, Clyde. One thing I was extremely grateful for was his survival of the catastrophic event, he was my best friend and was like a third brother to me. It was always a joy to hear his voice."Ace? Ace, are you there?" He asked. "Can you hear me?""I can hear you loud clear, Jack, over" I replied, anxious to know what crime he was reporting this time. Although I was hoping that whatever was going on wasn't too crazy, I knew I shouldn't hold my breath hoping for that. "What's going on?""We've got a robbery in progress over at Star Labs," Clyde reported. "Apparently, the thieves are after some high tech anti-gravity modules. Police are heading to the scene, but it might help to give them a hand by apprehending the suspects beforehand. Also, keep in mind, this technology could be used for destructive purposes so you might want to head over there, pronto.""I'm on it" I said. "Heading that way now, thanks for the heads up!"

"Don't mention it" Clyde replied as I webbed up and set out for Star Labs.It didn't take me too long to make it to the laboratory in question. Upon arriving, I found six thugs carrying what looked like a heavy crate over to a black van. If I were a gambling man, I'd guess that the crate contained those modules that Clyde was talking about. What these guys wanted with them, I had no idea, but I wasn't going to waste time finding out. I had a job to do. I immediately sprang into action, leaping from my hiding place and kicking one of the thugs in the head, knocking him out.

"It's a bit past your bedtime," I quipped as the remaining thugs dropped the crate and turned their attention to me. "What are you boys doing up so late?"

"It's the Spider, get him!" One thug yelled before he and his friends pulled out their guns and opened fire on me.

"Ahem, that's the Spider-Ace to you," I sarcastically corrected them as I dodged their gunfire with ease.

I leapt behind one of the robbers, used my web to snatch the gun out of his hands and dropped him with an uppercut. I took care to move his body out of the way so that he wouldn't be shot by his partners before moving to deal with the rest of his buddies. One thug was dual wielding pistols so I dealt with him by clogging the barrel of his guns with my web. That left only 3, all of whom were firing at me like crazy, destroying all kinds of computers and machines in the process. I felt a bit of remorse for their destruction as the scientists who worked here no doubt must've spent hours working on them, only for their progress to be suddenly erased, all because I couldn't take out six hooligans fast enough. I pushed that thought out of my mind as I dodged their gunfire until they ran out of ammo.

"Don't you hate it when that happens?" I taunted before drop kicking one of the men in the chest. His partners tried picking up the crate and loading it into the van, but I put a halt to their efforts by destroying the crate, sending what looked like hundreds of anti-gravity modules scattering across the floor.

"Crap! How are we supposed to get all this junk now?" One of them asked.

"Just grab as many of them as you can and hope the boss is satisfied!" His partner replied, the two of them scrambling to pick up as many devices as they could.

"If I were you, I'd be hoping for a light sentence" I taunted them before feeling a large object hitting me on the back of the head, knocking me senseless.

"Looks like "Spider-Ace" just got squashed," The third thug said, stepping over my half unconscious body and getting into the van. "How many of these things did you grab?"

"We got enough!" His accomplice yelled as he climbed into the driver's seat while the second one got in on the passengers side. "Quick, get in before the cops get here!"

The criminals loaded into their van and sped off, leaving their unconscious partners behind as I slowly regained my bearings and got back up. Apparently, the third thug had thrown a barrel at me, which explained how it nearly knocked me out. It was amazing that I didn't have a concussion or a fractured skull from the hit I had taken. In the distance, I could hear police sirens approaching, which I took as my cue to skedaddle. Fortunately, I had managed to keep sight of the robbers' vehicle so following them back to their boss shouldn't be too difficult. My head was still throbbing from the blow I took as I began my pursuit before receiving another call from Clyde.

"Ace! Ace! You alright man?" Clyde asked me. "You went quiet for a while so I started to worry."

"I'm alright, ugh" I groaned, clutching my head while I swung from building to building, making sure I kept my eye on the thieves' van. "Don't take this the wrong way, Jack, but could you try not to be so loud? One of the guys threw a barrel at my head like he was freaking Donkey Kong or something. You'd think my Spidey sense would've given me a heads up so I could dodge, but I guess not"

"So I take it you lost the thieves?" Clyde asked me, speaking softer.

"No way, it'll take more than some barrel to keep me down and out" I replied. "I'm following them to their boss as we speak; just making sure I keep my distance so I don't alert them."

"Hold on a minute, Boss?" Clyde responded.

"Well yeah," I answered. "Between you me, these guys share two collective brain cells. There's no way that they could've come up with a scheme like this. They likely don't even know what an anti-gravity module is. Someone has to be pulling the strings here."

"Who do you think that someone is?" Clyde asked.

"I'm about to find out soon enough," I said, following the van as it made its way to the slums. It soon afterwards reached its destination, which looked like it was an old electronics store. Climbing onto the roof, I sneaked inside through a ventilation duct. That allowed me a front row seat to listen in as the thieves met up with their "boss". I couldn't see who the boss was from where I was hiding, but I could hear them talking loud and clear.

"So, I take it you got the product I requested?" The Boss questioned them. Their voice sounded awfully familiar and I'd soon find out why.

"W-Well, Boss, w-w-we didn't get the entire shipment like you asked, but we did bring you back this…" The first goon said as he and the other two nervously presented the boss with a total of 6 modules. There was a moment of silence before the mysterious boss snatched the modules from their hands and tossed them aside like they were yesterday's trash.

"Useless!" The Boss exclaimed. "I gave you simpletons one simple task and you bring me this? What am I supposed to do with these? I'd compare you to Neanderthals, but scientific studies show that neanderthals were actually sufficiently intelligent, the same of which cannot be said of you. I should've suspected that you cretins had failed me when you arrived missing 3 of your fellow imbeciles!"

"It wasn't our fault!" The second guy spoke up, trying to defend himself. "It's that accursed Spider-Ace who is to blame! He ruined everything, we were lucky to escape with what we did!"

"Spider-Ace?" The Boss inquired, at which point I finally recognized their voice.

"Yeah, but don't worry about that kid, I knocked him out with a barrel," The third guy gloated. "He's probably waking up in a police cell as we speak" Pfft, as if I'd let a lowlife like him get the best of me.

The boss sighs before saying "I'm going to ask you one very important question and I want you to answer truthfully… were you idiots followed on your way over here?"

"Not a chance" The third guy answers. "We didn't spot a single squad car or pesky wannabe superhero during our trip here."

Lisa sighs and says "Yep, you were definitely followed. Come on out, brother!"

Popping from my hiding place, I couldn't help but make a wisecrack. "Wow Lisa, you sure do know how to kill the mood. I was planning to make a whole dynamic entrance and everything, but you just had to ruin it didn't you?" With a smirk, I took a better look around the joint. Yep, we were definitely in an electronics store. "So, what's this? Your chess club gathering?"

"You made a mistake coming here, Spider" The first goon said, he and his partners pulling out their weapons and aiming them at me. "Now you've given us a chance to make up for earlier"

"Now, now, young man, didn't your mother ever teach you that it was rude to point?" I taunted, reminding them that their guns were empty before asking Lisa. "Seriously, Lis, where do you find these guys?"

Lisa groaned and proclaimed "I'm surrounded by idiots" before pulling out a remote and pressing the big red button in the center. Almost immediately, every electronic device in the store from PCs to laptops to cell phones to tablets started merging together to form bulky looking killbots, complete with machine guns for arms and computer screens for faces. When it was all said and done, I found myself staring at 8 homicidal androids that wanted to turn me into Swiss cheese.

"Uh oh," I uttered before leaping behind a shelf to avoid the resulting gunfire. "Okay, outnumbered 8 to 1, nothing I haven't faced before."

"Boss, try to control these things!" One of the goons yelled as the trio tried ducking the hail of bullets. "You're going to end up shooting one of us if you're not careful!"

"And nothing of value would be lost" Lisa said, callously disregarding her henchmen's lives as she sent her killbots after me.

I spotted an opening in the form of a patch of loose ceiling right above two of the killbots' heads. Acting quickly, I shot two webs at that particular spot before pulling on them harshly, using my super strength to bring a portion of the roof crashing down on top of the two cybernetic attackers, crushing them and giving me a bit more room to breathe. Three more of the androids were advancing towards me so I didn't have much time to think, I had to rely on my instincts. I tried repeating my trick from the incident at Star Labs, using my web to clog the machine guns, but was distracted when one of Lisa's henchmen suddenly came flying at me. I barely managed to catch the man in time, but in doing so, I lost my opportunity to strike.

I had completely forgotten about Lisa's telekinesis and was lucky that it hadn't cost me. What would cost me however, was my mercy as the goon I'd saved from certain death repaid me by trying to hit me in the head with his gun. Fortunately, I dodged his attack but that didn't stop him from trying to kick me in the face. I rolled out of the way of his kick and was just barely quick enough fire a web shot at an Android that was trying to blast me, managing to redirect its gun so that it opened fire on itself, destroying it in a shower of sparks.

"Might wanna work on how you program your machines' A.I., Lis, these walking toasters don't seem too bright" I said, not being able to resist making another snarky remark, much to my detriment. Lisa's goon was still trying to attack me, forcing me to dodge his every punch. "Okay, you are starting to get annoying"

At the very least, I didn't have to contend with his two buddies as they were busy cowering in the corner. I ducked another punch from the henchman and swept his leg out from underneath him, sending him toppling to the ground. As he went down, the crook grabbed me and tried pulling me down with him, which brought us both into the line of fire of two manic robots. Thanks to my super reflexes, I was able to jump out of the way… just not as fast as I needed to. I hissed in pain as I felt a sharp, burning sensation spread throughout my left shoulder. The idiot henchman got off far worse than I did, being shredded by machine gun fire. Still, having an injured arm would slow my down substantially, putting me in a bit of a predicament.

"If only you could understand what I'm trying to accomplish" I heard Lisa say as I hid behind another shelf. "I'm on the verge of discovering a cure to the virus, why are you trying to stop me?"

"Oh, I dunno, might have something to do with the fact that your "cure" involves modifying it so that anyone injected with it becomes slaves to your will," I pointed out, looking for a way out as her androids continued approaching me.

"A small price to pay for salvation," Lisa replied.

"So tell me, what about you ruling Royal Woods sounds like salvation?" I asked her, having a hard time believing that this mad scientist was my sister.

"Please, the people in this town would flourish under my leadership," She answered back. "Also, do you really think my ambitions stop at just Royal Woods?" She smirked and said "With an adequate sample, perhaps I could release the virus into other cities and then save them with my cure. They'd practically begging to have me as their leader until I was the head of the entire United States and from there, the world itself!"

"Okay, I give you credit for not breaking into a cheesy stereotypical evil laugh, but are you listening to yourself?" I asked. "Not to mention, hello! You're only 5 years old!"

"Age is nothing but a number" She replied. "It's essentially meaningless, especially to someone of my intellect. You know, it's not too late to ally with me, Lincoln. You could benefit from partnering with me, you know?"

"And help you poison innocent people in your pursuit for power? Not a chance" I answered, using my legs to kick the shelf onto the three androids that were approaching me, taking them out of commission as well. I quickly took refuge behind yet another shelf as the final two androids marched towards me.

"Just so you know, I take no joy in ending you, Lincoln" Lisa announced. "You're my biological brother and we grew up in the same home so there's plenty of sentimentality involved. Nevertheless, you serve as a hindrance to my plans and must be dealt with accordingly. Goodbye Lincoln."

The shelf I was hiding behind started to shake. She was going to use her telekinesis to crush me to death. I couldn't leap out from my hiding place as the second I did so, I'd be ripped to shreds by gunfire and that wasn't even taking into consideration my injured arm. This wasn't looking good for me. Just when it seemed that my fate was all but sealed, I heard the familiar cry of "Shazam!", followed by a bolt of lightning striking right in front of me.

"Leave it to Stincoln to need his big sister to bail him out of trouble," Lynn said as she appeared between me and the two remaining killbots, arms folded triumphantly.

"Aww man, that's the kind of dynamic entrance I wanted to make" I lamented.

"Typical, I save your life and you're more concerned about looking cool," Lynn said.

"Oh please, I could've handled the situation," I told her. "I was just lulling them into a false sense of security before I could strike"

"Oh really, and how did you plan on doing that?" Lynn asked with a teasing smirk, not even remotely phased by the hundreds of bullets being fired at her by Lisa's machines.

"I have super strength too, you know," I reminded her. "All I had to do was pick up this shelf and crush these buckets of bolts beneath it!" I wasn't completely lying as that was my plan, but with my injury, it would've been rather difficult, if not impossible to pull off with just one arm.

"Sure, that's all you had to do," Lynn said, keeping that smirk on her face before she finally got fed up with the androids shooting her. "Okay, do you guys mind buzzing off!" With a single swift movement and one punch, she reduced the two machines to a pile of nuts and bolts. "Invulnerable to damage, remember?"

With her mechas destroyed, Lisa only had her two remaining henchman to turn to. "What do I pay you imbeciles for!? Get them!"

"Are you crazy? You want us to take on Lynn Marvel and Spider-Ace with our bare hands?" One goon replied with his partner adding. "She just got shot a thousand times and didn't even so much as flinch while destroying two of your creations with a single punch… and he took out six of your robots with ease! What the heck do you think we're going to do against them!?"

"So, I take it you're refusing my orders?" Lisa questioned them. They nodded and Lisa responded with a deadpan "Very well". There was a sickening crunch and the two thugs dropped dead in an instant, their heads twisted in a sickening angle.

"Did you just kill your own men?" I asked, in disbelief. I was trying to make it out of this patrol with a casualty count of zero, but clearly I failed big time in that regard.

"If you think about it, I'm doing the two of you a favor," Lisa said. "Dead men tell no tales, meaning your secret identities are safe. Not that it matters in the long run."

"Do you really think that you can take me on?" Lynn questioned her. "Now listen, Lis, I don't wanna have to fight you, but if it comes down to it, I will"

"Maybe we don't have to fight," Lisa said with a smirk. "After all, I be privy to some information you want to know,"

"What are you talking about?" Lynn asked, her curiosity piqued.

"You're still searching for your boyfriend, aren't you?" Lisa asked. "Six months and he's still missing. Surely, you're willing to do anything for a lead or something regarding his whereabouts."

"Go on" Lynn said.

"All I'm asking for in return is that you partner with me," Lisa told her. "I'll give you all the answers you seek and then some"

"Don't listen to her!" I advised Lynn. "She's just trying to manipulate you!"

"Quiet," Lynn told me, turning to Lisa and asking "What all do you know?"

"Hold on a minute," Lisa said. "Such information doesn't come free. If you want to know where your beloved Christopher is, you'll have to do something for me."

"Something like what?" Lynn asked, she I both having a bad feeling in our gut.

"It's quite simple, really" Lisa said. "All I want you to do is take care of our dearest brother and save me the heartache of having to do it myself"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Lynn asked.

"Lynn…" I said, unsure if she would actually go through with it or not. Chris meant the world to her and she'd do anything to find him.

"Dearest sister, you of all people should know just how much I detest lying," Lisa answered. "I can assure you, you have my word that I'll tell you what you want to know"

After a moment of hesitation, Lynn began conjuring electricity. She turned her head towards me and aimed her palm at me.

"Lynn, you can't be serious, can you!?" I asked, backing up. Lynn didn't utter a word and continued charging electricity. As fast as my reflexes were, there was no way I could dodge a bolt of lightning. "LYNN!?"

At the last second, Lynn turned and fired her bolt at Lisa, who threw up a psychic barrier at the last second. Not that she needed to, as Lynn deliberately aimed above her head.

"You must be out of your mind if you think I'd kill my own family," Lynn states, the disgust in her voice easy to hear. "I honestly can't believe that you're my sister, you've got to be a clone or a doppelgänger or something."

"You just made a big mistake," Lisa said. "You should've worked with me, now I have no choice but to destroy you"

"Oh yeah, and how are you going to do that?" Lynn asked. "Your psychic powers can't match up to mine"

"Really?" Lisa replied. "Do you think I came unprepared. I'm all too aware that saying… darn, what was it? Shazing? Shablam? Shia Kazing? Shehulk? Zamboni…"

Growing tired of this, Lynn yelled "For Christ's sake, it's "SHAZAM!"" and instantly reverted back to her normal self.

"That's it," Lisa said with a smile. "You're just as easy to trick as ever"

"So what?" Lynn replied. "All I have to do is say it again and I'll be back at full strength! Sha" Before she could finish her sentence, Lisa grabbed her with her psychokinesis and slammed her up against a wall. Lynn quickly got back up, but was picked up and smashed into the wall a second time. And then a third.

"Lynn! Hold on!" I shouted, springing into action, only to be caught by Lisa's psychokinesis and slammed hard into the floor.

"There'll be no more of that" Lisa stated confidently, holding Lynn I in the air by our necks. "Time to deal with you interlopers!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow moving in the background. Lisa must've noticed too as she immediately panicked and dropped Lynn I to the ground. She looked behind her, but found nothing and turned her attention back to us, telekinetically picking us up by our necks again. As she did so however, a figure emerged from the shadows and took a swing at her, knocking her to the ground. Lynn took advantage of the opportunity, shouting "SHAZAM" and powering back up. Lynn I both recognized the figure right away, despite the fact his face was obscured by shadows, even before he started profusely apologizing to Lisa.

"Oh my DIO, I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I? I know, I'm despicable for putting my hands on my little sister in such a loathsome manner! I"

"Lio! You don't have to apologize!" Lynn I both said, with Lynn pointing out "Our beloved sister was just trying to kill me Lincoln!"

That prompted me to ask my twin brother "What took you so long, man? You don't think you could've gotten here sooner?"

"Oh, actually, I've been here the whole time" Lio replies. "You see, I arrived at Star Labs shortly after you and decided to hitch a ride with the thieves on their way back to the boss."

"If you've been here the whole time, why didn't you lend us a hand when we were fighting Lisa's mechas?" Lynn asked him with a hint of anger.

"Are you crazy!?" He replied. "Unlike you two, I don't have super strength, reflexes, or immunity to bullets! My powers consist solely of traveling through/disguising myself with shadows and healing people which, let me remind you, I can't use on myself! Speaking of healing however…"

Lio gently grabbed my left arm and within a matter of seconds, the pain dissipated, fading away entirely. I flexed my muscles, making sure my arm still worked right. "Thanks, bro"

"No problem" He said before we heard Lisa getting up.

"You imbeciles are way too stupid to know you're getting yourselves into by going against me," Lisa said, venom in her voice. "You'll regret this decision, I'll make your lives completely miserable."

"You're about a year too late for that," Lio snarked, face still hidden by shadows.

"This isn't the end of things," Lisa proclaimed, pressing a few buttons on her wristwatch. "At the risk of sounding cliche, we shall meet again and next time, the outcome won't be in your favor!" She disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Lynn, Lio, and myself standing there in confusion.

"Well, I can't say I'm satisfied with how that confrontation ended," I said.

"Do you… do you think she was telling the truth?" Lynn asked. "Do you think she actually might know where Chris is?"

"I don't know," I said. "She's not one to fib liberally, but then again… how would she come across information regarding him?"

"Even if she does know where he is, I doubt she planned on telling you outright, even if you did kill Lincoln," Lio said. "She likely would've had you continue doing tasks for her until you were no longer useful."

"You're probably right," Lynn admitted.

"What is this world coming to?" Lio lamented. "We used to fight each other over the TV remote or who did what chore or who got which of Dad's leftovers. Now… now we're fighting to kill each other." Out of all is us, he was the one hit hardest by the loss of our parents and our resulting split. It was easy to tell too. His voice just sounded so broken, like he was constantly on the verge of crying.

"Yeah…" Lynn said. "Things are really messed up, but at least I know that I still have you two… and Lucy… and Leni… and Lily of course" Lynn turned to me and asked "How is Lily doing by the way?"

"She's doing great," I answered. "Clyde's dads are taking great care of her. Still no sign of any powers manifesting though."

"That's strange," Lynn said. "She caught the virus just like all of us, right?" Lio I nodded. "Maybe it's because she's just too young right now, but it's still odd her powers haven't manifested yet."

"Perhaps that's a good thing," Lio said, the shadows starting to cover his entire body, which was a sign he was about to leave. "If it keeps her out of this life, I'm all for it."

"So where are you headed?" I asked him.

"Heading back to the library," Lio answered. "Hoping that I can find something about this mysterious disease, or at least find out where it came from."

"Good luck with your research," Lynn told him.

"Thank you" He responded before disappearing completely into the shadows, leaving just me and Lynn.

"What do you plan on doing?" I asked Lynn.

"I need answers," She replied. "I have to know what happened to Chris. I can't stop until I find the truth."

"Don't you think that it's somewhat possible that Christopher could be… well, you know" I started to ask, only to be cut off by a steely death glare.

"Don't even joke like that," Lynn said. "He's out there somewhere, I just know it; and I'm not going to stop until I find him."

With that, she took flight, leaving me alone. That's when I received another call from Clyde.

"Things certainly got out of hand back there, wouldn't you say?"

"Tell me about it," I said, ready to swing back over to my hideout. "I'm used to my fair share of crazy nights, but this was way wilder than I imagined!"

"What do you think will happen from here on out?" Clyde asked me.

"I don't know," I replied. "One thing is for certain though: I have a feeling the insanity is just getting started."

END ISSUE 1


	2. Issue 2: Shazam

What would you do if someone you loved suddenly went missing? If they just vanished without a trace one day? Not dead or kidnapped, just gone and nobody knew where they were. How far would you be willing to go to find them? Despite everyone telling you that they're likely dead and that you should move on, would you keep looking or just give up hope? That's the position I found myself in. Ever since that virus plagued our community, nothing has been the same. In short order, I lost my parents, my family, and then my boyfriend. A boyfriend who meant the world to me. In the wake of the epidemic, all I had were questions. Questions that I desperately needed the answers to. No matter what it took, I'd find the truth I was seeking out.

After that encounter with my sister, Lisa, I was left with a new sense of hope. The way she spoke implied that Chris was still alive and out there somewhere. Of course, that was assuming she was telling the truth. Either way, if I wanted answers, I was going to have to find them myself. Even if Lisa was telling the truth, after she tried manipulating me into killing Lincoln, there was no way I'd work with her. I couldn't tell if it was the side effects of the virus or if her newfound power had gone to her head, but either way she had lost her mind. It was hard to believe that she used to be my tutor.

As the sun started to rise after what turned out to be an eventful night, I wondered where I should go from here. Before the call to action, I had been looking into certain rumors regarding the citizens who went had gone missing during the initial outbreak. The rumor going around was that the government had gathered up a few of the infected and taken them to a private facility to be experimented on so that they could find a cure for the disease. Personally, I found the rumor to be ridiculous. For a brief time, I wondered if the rumor was true and if maybe Chris had been one of the people they'd gathered up before dismissing that thought. Most of the people who had gone missing were homeless people, runaways, and those who'd be considered undesirables. All in all, people whose disappearance wouldn't bat an eyelash to most folks. Secondly, I found out through his parents that Chris showed no signs of even being infected with the virus, meaning he didn't fit in either category. It was highly unlikely he'd been taken away by some government conspiracy.

Walking through town in my depowered state, I caught a glimpse of a newspaper, the headlining story reading "Twisted Joke, Another Body Found, Thought to be yet another victim of The Joker, who remains at large". I let out a sigh upon reading the story and seeing that she had struck again. While all of my siblings I survived the virus without any physical harm, a few of us came out of the ordeal with damaged mental states with one of us becoming completely guano insane. Hopefully, she'd be caught soon as in the short six months since what happened, she'd already killed so many people. My sister, Lucy, night have felt otherwise, but I was sick of the feeling of being surrounded by death. Royal Woods was dealing with enough issues as it is, they didn't need something like this to keep them up at night. I pushed the thoughts aside and focused on the matter at hand. I was at square one with nary a clue about where to look next. Fortunately for me, I was about to stumble upon a lead through sheer chance. As I was walking down the street, I heard two teens talking to each other in an alleyway.

"Okay, I'm calling BS on that," One kid, clad in a black hoodie said to the other. "There's no way you're not just saying this to mess with me."

"I swear man, it's the truth," the second one said, wearing a white leather jacket. He sounded like he was genuinely distressed, as if he'd seen something not meant to be seen. He was frantic and clearly very nervous as his eyes were wide as dinner plates. "What they're doing is actually insane!"

Deciding to get a better listen, I crept closer to the two and hid behind a dumpster in order to get a better listen.

"So you're telling me that Paxton Industries is taking infected people from the hospital and freezing them like popsicles?" The first one said, sounding skeptical. "I don't know man, this seems like something out of a comic book or movie or something."

"Dude, you've gotta believe me!" His friend insisted. "I saw and heard it with my own eyes! There was this man, looked like he was on the verge of death! He was so desperate to live that he signed a waiver that allowed Paxton to do whatever they wanted as long as they cured him! Those rumors we've been hearing are true! I swear on my mother's life I'm telling the truth!"

The first teen laughed and asked "Are you sure your fellow coworkers weren't just playing a prank on you? I mean after all, you are the new intern."

"Do you really think that I would lie about something like this!?" The second one asked, seemingly becoming more and more unhinged with each passing second.

"Okay, okay, let's just say I believe you," The first one said. "What would they possibly have to gain from doing this?"

"I don't know, but we've got to tell everyone about this!" His friend insisted.

I myself was reluctant to believe the kid's story… until I heard the sound of a gun cocking and a deep, gruff voice say "I'm afraid I can't let you two gentlemen do that"

I looked up and saw two business executives approaching from the other side of the alley. They didn't seem to notice me as their attention was squarely on the two teenagers. Each of the men held a pistol in their hands and had murderous intent in their eyes. The two teens backed away slowly, presumably looking for a way out of this.

"I extend my deepest apologies, boys" One of them said, oddly enough sounding genuinely polite. "But no one can be allowed to know of our operations"

"Okay, let's say I believe you now," The first teen said to his friend. "Do you have any idea of how we're going to get out of this?"

"None whatsoever" said the second as the hit men pointed their guns at them.

At this point, I'd seen and heard enough. Wasting not even a single second more, I shouted "Shazam!" And transformed into my more powerful alter ego. The bolt of lightning got the hit men's attention, giving me time to jump in between them and the two teens. "You two might want to get out of here, I'll deal with these nerds" I told them.

"Don't have to tell us twice!" They said, making a run for it. The hitmen raised their weapons and tried shooting them, but I was more than quick enough to catch their bullets in my hand.

"Hey, eyes on me," I scolded them. "Right now, I'm the only one you should be concerned with."

"Well, considering you likely heard everything those two dunderheads were talking about, you're not exactly wrong," The hitman with a gruff voice said, sounding the exact opposite of his polite partner. "Dealing with you shouldn't be too much of a hassle." With that said, the two hitmen opened fire and I couldn't help but chuckle at their useless gesture.

"Why is it that makes every criminal, thug, and lowlife immediately try shooting me when they see me?" I asked rhetorically as their bullets bounced off me. "You'd think someone would spread the message to their buddies that I'm bulletproof."

"Let's see how you fare against grenades then!" The gruff voiced hitman said, tossing two grenades at me, which is easily caught in my hands. Just to show off, I deliberately detonated the explosives myself and tanked the explosion. The look on the hit men's faces was priceless as they swiftly changed their tone from bravado to astonishment. Their shock didn't last long however and in what I can only assume to be a move of desperation, pointed their pistols right at my face.

"Again with the pea-shooters? You guys really don't learn, do you?" I teased them, snatching their guns away from them and crushing them in my hand. "Now why don't you boys take a little nap?" I said as I grabbed their heads and bashed them together, knocking them out cold. I took the time to tie them up before checking to make sure they didn't have any more weapons. In the process, I found a business card relating to Paxton Industries. Needless to say, I now fully believed that kid's story. Next on my agenda was to head over to their headquarters and do a little private investigating. Maybe if I was lucky, I'd catch a break and find what I was looking for.

Before I set off to break into a multi-billion dollar company's main building of operations, I had to do some research on them. From what I gathered, it seemed this company was involved in just about every activity under the sun, both legal and illegal. Oil drilling, agriculture, product manufacturing, medical research to name a few. The company's owner/CEO, Derek Paxton, was rumored to have dealings in arms trafficking, extortion, racketeering, and embezzlement. Of course, none of those allegations could actually be proven, but even with all that aside, this was still one shady organization. Focusing on their ventures in medical research, it appeared that they were experimenting with cryogenic freezing for the purpose of preserving life, mostly using small rodents and mammals as test subjects. Now they had decided to expand their experiments to include the use of humans. With all this information at my disposal, I didn't feel the slightest bit bad about planning to break into their facilities.

I waited until about noon to make my move. The headquarters was heavily guarded so getting inside would definitely be a challenge. I couldn't just use my powers to blitz my way inside; for this mission I wanted to be as stealthy as possible. Getting out undetected would definitely prove difficult, but the real test came in how would I get in undetected? That's when it hit me. Through the use of my ability to control electricity, I could render myself invisible to the human eye. Looks like Lisa's science lessons were starting to pay off.

Using my electrokinetic invisibility, I simply walked through the front door without issue. Once I made it past the front desk, it was simply a matter of finding out where they kept the human popsicles. If action movies had taught me anything, it was that the big bad corrupt corporate executives always kept their dirty secrets on the basement floor. I double checked to make sure that nobody was watching before catching an elevator. Next stop: bottom floor.

As the elevator descended, I became lost in thought once again. The encounter with the hitmen raised two stinging questions for me. Was it possible that Chris had been mistaken for one of the infected and was kidnapped frozen by Paxton? Had he found out about what they'd been doing and then silenced? No, that couldn't have been what happened. Call it intuition, but I just knew that he wasn't dead. Whatever the case was, I had a feeling that I wasn't going to get the answers I was seeking today. That wasn't going to stop me from looking however. Even if I didn't find Chris here, I could still take the opportunity to gather evidence on this company's shady dealings.

The elevator came to a halt and I took a quick look around upon stepping out. The basement was brightly lit and consisted of many long halls and corridors. With the exception of the bathroom, every room was only accessible through the use of a keycard. Honestly, I expected something like this, but the keycard issue wasn't even my main concern. My biggest problem was finding out which room was the room they kept the frozen patients stored in. There were dozens of rooms on this floor alone, I didn't have time to look through every single room one by one. Fortunately, it wouldn't take me too long to find the cryogenic freezing chamber. How did I pull this off, you ask? Well, it might have had something to do with the large black doors that had four armed guards standing in front of them. Not exactly keeping anything secret if you keep a bunch of armed guards standing outside the door.

Making things even better was the fact that each guard had their own keycard around their necks which took care of my second problem. I was still invisible at this point and since I was generating electricity, all I had to do to knock out the guards was give them a simple tap on the shoulder. After taking care of them, I took a keycard from one guard, scanned it and walked through the doors. Right away, the temperature dropped and I couldn't help but involuntarily shiver. I was definitely in the right place. The chamber looked like one large laboratory/doctor's office, being occupied by scientists in white lab coats and a few wearing surgical masks. They weren't the people I was looking for. I knew I had to venture deeper into the lab if I wanted to find where they kept the patients.

I casually strolled past scientists and doctors alike, all of them talking about how close they were to a major breakthrough when it came to curing the virus. Their research involved more than just freezing people alive. They were actually developing vaccines and other forms of treatment and testing them on patients, while they were still fully conscious. Not only that, but they had apparently been doing this for weeks. Yet, these scumbags had the nerve to be proud of themselves for what they were doing. I could barely contain the disgust I felt towards each and every one of them. No matter how good their goals were, the fact that they could so easily throw away their morals to accomplish them was despicable. There had to be a better way of combating the virus than this.

I kept my contempt bottled up as I descended further into the lab, the temperature growing colder and colder as I did, letting me know I was on the right track. The further along I went, the more I could've sworn I heard moans of agony. I didn't know if they were coming from live test subjects or if I was just hearing things, but it was disturbing all the same. I swear, if it was the last thing I did, I was going to expose this company for all of its dirty deeds. I put that thought aside as I finally found the real freezing chamber, the room where they stored all their test subjects. Unlike the door I went through to get into the lab in the first place, this one was strangely unprotected, with not a single guard in sight. There wasn't even so much as a keycard lock to keep people from getting inside. I guess they figured that if you made it this far, you'd already been given the proper clearance.

Opening the door, I was instantly taken aback by a chilling breeze of cold air. I shivered for just a moment before stepping inside and finding just what I was looking for. Lined up in rows all throughout the room were hundreds of pods, each of them containing a person inside. It wasn't as horrifying as I expected it to be as despite being frozen solid, each and every patient looked like they were in a peaceful slumber. I debated whether or not I should try breaking them out. On the one hand, I could save them from being subjected to experimentation. On the other hand, I had no idea what I was doing or how to even open the pods to begin with and my efforts to free them could end up accidentally killing them.

Ultimately, I made the decision to just leave them as they were for now. I made a promise to myself that I'd come back for them later, maybe with some help from my family. In the meantime, it didn't hurt to try getting a good look at these people's faces, maybe find out who their families were so I could tell them what happened to their loved ones. I mean, after all, that was one of the reasons I came here in the first place. I was forced to become visible again if I wanted to look through the pods in order to prevent myself from accidentally shorting them out with my electricity. Afterwards, I began looking through each and every pod, getting a good look at the faces of everyone inside them. Some of them I recognized as being the people who'd gone missing after the initial outbreak. Others I recognized as being runaway teenagers, something that made me sick to my stomach. Some of these teens were close to my age, yet they were being primed like cattle to be experimented on. I had a strong feeling that not all of these guys were infected either.

So far, my search for Chris had turned up fruitless. Even though I still had no idea where he was, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. At least now I knew he wasn't being held here against his will, being prepped to become some guinea pig.

I continued looking through the pods when I came face to face with someone I wasn't expecting to see. A man who looked to be in his late fifties, early sixties with thinning white hair and mustache, dressed in a pinstripe suit. Unlike all the other ones, he did not look like he was in a peaceful slumber. Au contraire, his mouth was agape and his face frozen in an expression of sheer terror. Upon closer look, I recognized this man as Derek Paxton, the CEO who I had mentioned earlier. Needless to say, I was incredibly confused by this. Was he one of the infected? If not, why has he been frozen? Most importantly, if he wasn't the one pulling the strings behind this operation, then who was?

All my questions would soon be answered as I heard the doors slide open behind me. I quickly ran into a far corner of the room and hid behind one of the pods, peeking my head out from around the corner so I could see who was coming. Much to my confusion, it was Lisa who was entering the room, accompanied by a nerdy looking, bespectacled man. Lisa wore a very concerned and angry look on her face as if her patience was being tested.

"Wilbur, are you absolutely sure that there hasn't been a breach in security?" Lisa asked the man with glasses.

"I'm certain of it," Wilbur replied. "If someone had managed to make it through, I'd be the first to know."

"Then how do you explain the four unconscious guards who were lying down on the job outside the door to this facility?" Lisa questioned him. "I find it hard to believe that all of them just randomly decided to take a nap at the same time."

"Trust me, no one is capable of making it down here without being caught," Wilbur said, a remark that made me have to clamp my mouth shut to keep from laughing.

"For your sake, I hope you're correct," Lisa told him. "We can ill afford for someone to find out about our deal, especially concerning what happened to your father."

"Do you think I want to be found out?" Wilbur asked in response as he Lisa inspected every corner of the room. "I've been living in the shadow of that abusive, contemptible blowhard for years. When you came along and offered to take care of him, I jumped at the chance to replace him. I have just as much to lose as you do!"

"Not exactly, but if that's what you want to believe, then okay," Lisa replied. "Just don't forget who's really pulling the strings around here."

"As long as it looks like I'm in charge, you can do whatever you please," Wilbur told her, coming very close to my hiding spot. It was a good thing I had reverted back to using my electrokinetic invisibility ability otherwise, I might have been caught then and there.

"Well, it appears that there's nobody here," Lisa said. "Maybe it was just a false alarm after all. Come on, let's head back upstairs so that we can discuss business." She Wilbur left the room shortly after that, leaving me free to continue my search.

Again, I dropped the use of invisibility so that I wouldn't damage the pods and resumed what I had been doing before. It took my a little bit to comprehend what I had just seen and heard. In addition to setting up the theft at Star Labs the other night, Lisa had apparently weaseled her way into Paxton Industries and frozen replaced the CEO. How she had managed to do that was a mystery to me. An even bigger mystery was how long had she been in charge? Had she been the one giving out orders to carry out these kidnappings? Was this the true motive behind all those disappearances, to provide Lisa with experimental fodder? Sure, Lisa always had a tendency to use her family as guinea pigs, but she never used them in experiments like this and her science was always on the ethical side of things. After her monologue last night, I knew she had ambitions of world domination, but how low was she willing to stoop to achieve those goals?

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard an "Ahem" and felt the room grow even colder. Turning around, I saw my older sister, Luna, standing in the doorway. Just when I thought this day couldn't get anymore confusing.

"Luna? What are you doing here?" I asked, not knowing whether I should be preparing for a fight or not, but keeping a defensive stance just in case.

"You could say we're both here for similar reasons, sis" Luna said, casually crafting an icicle in her hands. "We're both here for the vested interests of our special someone. The difference is that I know where my someone is while you're still hopelessly searching for yours." She suddenly threw the icicle at my head, which I easily caught in my hand; looks like we were fighting. "You know, sis, if you were really so determined to find Chris, you should've agreed to work with Lisa."

"Don't tell me that you've sided with her," I said. "Do you have any idea what she's doing?"

"She's trying to find a cure for the disease that turned us into a family of freaks!" Luna shouted. "Besides, even if I do disagree with her ethics, I have no choice but to help her"

I was curious as to what she meant by that until she walked over to another pod that I had failed to notice. Looking closely, I could see that the pod contained Luna's girlfriend, Sam.

"Listen, Luna, you don't have to do this," I tried to persuade her. "Lisa is just using you. Even if she does find a cure, do you think Sam would approve of the means used to help her. Do you think that she'd approve of the things you did?"

"Shut up!" Luna shouted, sending hundreds of razor sharp shards of ice at me. "You don't know anything!"

"Luna, think long and hard about this," I warned her. "Do you really think you can go toe to toe with me?"

"I don't think, I know I can beat you" Luna said before launching into an attack.

She went for a punch, but I ducked and countered with a kick to the face. She recovered quickly and grabbed me by my leg before spiking me into the ground. Being as resilient as I was, I wasn't going down so easily and rolled out of the way as Luna tried pouncing on me. As I took a step back, Luna created a patch of ice on the floor, causing me to slip and fall on my backside. Afterwards, she constructed a giant fist made out of ice and tried to flatten me. Thanks to my superhuman durability, I came out without even a scratch on me. I charged a lightning bolt, only to stop myself before I could fire it. The last thing I wanted to do was damage one of these pods and kill somebody. My hesitation almost cost me as Luna launched four more icicles at my head.

I could tell that she was holding back. If Luna was truly intent on killing me, she could've summoned icicles from the ground in an attempt to skewer me. That, or use and freeze the water in my body to tear me to shreds. That wasn't to say she wasn't trying however. As the battle went on, I noticed the temperature continued to drop. Either she was trying to freeze me to death or make it harder for me to breathe in order to disorient me. In either case, I had to get her out of the pod chamber so that we wouldn't cause too much damage. To accomplish that, I flew right over to her and delivered and uppercut that sent her flying through the ceiling and up to the ground floor.

The secretary at the front desk screamed and ran for cover as I went to check on Luna. For my troubles, I was knocked back by a blast of ice. I got back to my feet and saw Luna standing on the other side of the lobby. I showed no fear as I charged towards Luna. I paid for my overzealous attack as in less than a split second, Luna crafted a large scythe made of ice and slashed me across the chest. I hissed in pain, but quickly recovered. I sidestepped another slash from Luna and blocked another with my forearm. I kicked Luna in her knee, sending her tumbling to the ground. Luna was agile however and rolled through, slashing my hand with her scythe when I reached out at her. I jumped back and instinctively shot a lightning bolt at Luna. Luna threw up an ice shield to protect herself, but was still knocked back when the lightning shattered her shield. That must've angered her because after recovering, the first thing Luna did was charge me at full speed. With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I charged towards her as well.

Once she was close enough, Luna decided to discard her scythe and attack me with a stiff punch to the face. After shaking my head clear, I returned the favor with a punch of my own. Strangely, Luna didn't even flinch as my fist collided with her face and in fact, she even smirked at me. I found out why that was when I felt a chill run up my arm and looked down to see my fist frozen in a block of ice. That flash freezing technique of hers was a real pain. Thanks to it, I couldn't physically touch her without getting frozen. I tried pulling away, but Luna grabbed my free arm and started freezing it too. Soon I was completely encased in a crystal of solid ice. I tried to break free with brute strength, but every time I did, she applied a thicker layer of ice. I was fortunate that there was a pocket of fresh air for me to breathe, but I had to figure a way out of this and fast. Thinking quickly, I powered down into my normal form before quickly shouting "SHAZAM!", the resulting lightning bolt blasting the ice crystal into pieces, setting me free and sending Luna flying.

Luna crashed hard into the wall with a thud and I was fully prepared to continue the fight. Unfortunately, I could hear sirens in the background as well as security guards coming to check out the scene. My mission of getting out undetected has been a complete failure and even if this company was carrying out underhanded procedures, I had no actual proof of their wrongdoing. Not wanting to go through the process of explaining to police and first responders why I had broken into one of the headquarters of the largest organization in America, I decided my best move was to get out of there as soon as possible. In the blink of an eye, I flew out the front door and took to the sky, just as Luna was starting to come to.

What a wild day this had been. My quest for the truth had led me to uncovering a horrific plot. If I could commend Lisa for one thing, it's that she didn't mess around when it came to her goals. Already she'd made a huge power move in her plans. I had to tell Lincoln, Lio, and the others about what was going on, about what Lisa was up to. We needed to come up with a way to stop her before it was too late. For the time being, my search for Chris could wait; there were bigger, more pressing issues at hand.

END ISSUE 2


	3. Issue 3: Ms Freeze

Don't give me that look, I know what you're thinking. How could I participate in something so heinous? How could I aid someone with such a twisted goal? How could I sleep at night knowing what I was aiding in? I've heard those same questions so many times that I should start making a list of just how many times I've heard them. Allow me to ask you a question in return: How far would you go if it meant saving the life of someone you treasured? Especially if you consider that someone to be the second half of your soul? Love can make you do crazy things, things you thought you'd never do in a million years. The biggest mistake of my life was falling in love, although if you knew her personally, you couldn't really blame me.

She was as beautiful as an autumn sunset, her spirit and personality was as free as the wind, and she was one of the kindest, gentlest souls I'd had the fortune of meeting. Heh, if she could hear me now, she'd probably tease me for being so cheesy. Her name was Sam Sharp and after an awkward confession on my part, we began dating. Everything was perfect and we both thought that we'd spend the rest of our lives with each other. Then, tragedy struck; while she had been spared during the initial outbreak of the virus, she wouldn't be so lucky in the aftermath. After contracting the illness, her health rapidly declined and she had to be hospitalized. Doctors didn't know if she was going to make it through or not. I couldn't bear the thought of losing her and I'd do literally anything to save her life. That's when Lisa approached me with an offer. To you, it may seem like I made a deal with the devil, in reality I did what I had to do to save a life. With Sam's consent, I agreed to freeze her over until Lisa could find a cure. I knew in advance that it might take weeks, months, or even years for a cure to be developed, but it was the only option I had.

I am not a villain. Anyone in my shoes would make the same choice I did. At least, that's what I thought. My scuffle with Lynn had left me a bit bruised and sore. I stretched as I picked myself up off the ground. The little brat was long gone by the time I had full regained my senses. She was lucky that I held back throughout our fight, I could've defeated her without breaking a sweat if I wasn't. For the life of me I couldn't understand her. Just like me, she had been on the verge of losing someone she cared about and Lisa had offered her a solution. While I could understand her reluctance to kill one of our siblings, why hadn't she at least entertained the idea of working for Lisa? Hmpf, if she knew the true reason Chris had gone missing, she wouldn't be so unwilling to play ball.

As police, firefighters, and EMTs arrived on the scene, I ventured back downstairs and into the chamber. Fortunately, our fight hadn't damaged any of the pods, I knew Lisa would be livid if we'd accidentally killed one of our subjects. Patching the hole in the ceiling/floor was going to take some time, but for right now, I could simply seal the opening with a patch of ice. After resolving that problem, I made my way to the top floor to meet up with Lisa. I already knew she wasn't going to be happy about that little intrusion, but I was hoping that I could calm her down. Sure enough, when I arrived at her office, Lisa was busy arguing with Wilbur, shouting at and berating him while the latter tried defending himself.

"I thought I told you to make absolutely sure no one had infiltrated the building!" Lisa yelled at him. "How could you be so incompetent as to let an intruder, who happened to be my sister no less, make it through into the freezing chamber!?"

"If I recall correctly, she made it past you too!" Wilbur retorted. "We were in the room at the same time, how come you didn't detect her presence?"

"Don't try to deflect this back at me!" Lisa shouted. "I don't think you're understanding the big picture here: she knows about what we're doing, which means she likely knows about your role in dispatching of your father! I don't know how many times I have to remind you of this fact, but if I go down, you go down too!"

"Crap, you're right!" Wilbur exclaimed, bearing the expression of a man who'd gone skydiving and realized a second too late that their parachute didn't work. "What're we going to do? I'm not fit for prison, they'll mop up the floor with me!"

"Calm down you nervous ninny," Lisa instructed him. "I doubt Marvel was smart enough to gather any evidence while she was in there, meaning it's her word against ours. Even if she did, her evidence would be inadmissible in court. In fact, perhaps we could even have her charged with trespassing as well as breaking entering. Imagine how bad it would look if one of Royal Woods' darling superheroines were caught breaking the law over an obsession over her boyfriend's fate. We could easily turn the public against her and paint her as a terrorist."

"That's- That's brilliant!" Wilbur applauded her, while I watched them, both of them unaware I was standing in the doorway.

"Of course it's brilliant, I came up with it!" Lisa sang her own praises, causing me to question if she'd always been this insufferable of a genius.

Finally, I made my presence known with an "Ahem," getting their attention and causing their eyes to fall on me.

"Ah, Luna, just in time," Lisa said to me, turning to Wilbur and dismissing him. "You can leave now, this is a private conversation between my sister and me."

As Wilbur left, closing the door behind him, I apologized to Lisa for failing to stop Lynn. "Sorry about slipping up down in the lab, Lis. I know I should've had her, but-"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Lisa said, confusing me. I thought that she'd be furious with me. "We shall deal with Lynn in dear time, right now we have more pressing matters at hand."

"Such as?" I asked.

"Well, for starters, there's a mad maniac running around kidnapping, torturing, and murdering people," Lisa answered. "It would help our public image if we were to put a permanent end to her antics, if you catch my drift."

"Whoa, hold on, I'm not liking where you're going with this" I told her. "Like, I'm willing to round up our other siblings, but I draw the line at 'eliminating' them''

"What is it with all of you and your sentimentality?" Lisa scoffed. "I understand that she's our sister, but she's also a threat to public safety. Are you aware of how many people she's killed during her spree of madness? We're at a point where we can't simply settle with capturing her. She has to be stopped by any means necessary. Believe me, I myself am not comfortable with this solution, but it is a necessary evil; it has to be done."

"Listen, I am not killing any of my siblings," I staunchly refused. "Again, I'm willing to capture her alive, but I'm not going any further than that."

Lisa let out a sigh and said "I suppose there's no convincing you otherwise. Very well, I won't force you to do anything you don't want to." She gazed out the window and added "Besides, I have more than enough resources that are capable of dealing with The Joker; just so long as you don't interfere with the process, we'll be okay.""You won't have to worry about me getting in the way," I assured her. "I want no part in your little more sinister schemes."

"Understandable," Lisa said. "However, since you say you're willing to capture more of our siblings, perhaps there's another troublesome sister you can help me deal with."

"And who would that be?" I asked. "Let me guess, it's Raven, isn't it? Or perhaps you want me to go after Plastic Girl? It wouldn't take me too much effort to capture either of them.""While I don't doubt your claims, there's another target I have in mind for this assignment," Lisa said before explaining "A certain someone whose identity I'm sure you'll quickly deduce, has been causing quite a ruckus in the woods. There have been reports of a shapeshifting creature capable of transforming into many different types of animals terrorizing and in some cases, attacking campers hikers wandering through the forest. Now who do you know matches this description?""Lana," I answered quickly. "Or as she's been dubbed by the media, Beast Girl," Lisa said. "Normally, I'd brush her off as an afterthought, but her attacks are starting to cause panic. Taking into consideration her ability to communicate with animals, that may raise an even bigger problem in that she can command her furry friends to attack innocents. For the interest of the public, it would serve us well to capture Lana before she gets out of hand and someone ends up getting killed. Do you think you're up for the task? Oh, and if you have any objections, think about this: would you prefer to safely apprehend your sister and bring her here where she can be monitored or would you like it if some vigilante mob of hunters set out to find Beast Girl and ended up killing her?"

I knew exactly what Lisa was doing. She was playing to my emotions and family bonds to manipulate me into accepting the job. Nevertheless, she was right. It was better that I be the one to capture her. Thus, I accepted, telling Lisa confidently "I'll have her here in no less than six hours max""I know you will, I have the utmost confidence in you," Lisa said with a smirk. "At the very least, I know I can count on you more than the incompetent goons I have at my disposal." She chuckled and sarcastically (at least I hoped it was sarcastic) suggested "Maybe you should take one of them along with you to use as live bait."

"No need," I told her. "Lana and I are just going to have a friendly sisterly talk and if talking doesn't work… I'll just have to domesticate her before I bring her to you. All I think I'll really need is a knapsack to keep her contained."

"Just in case, however, take this collar with you," Lisa said, pulling out a shiny silver and blue metal collar. "This collar is specially designed to cancel out Lana's powers, just on the off chance that she tries transforming in order to escape"

"Do you… do you have collars like these designed for all of us?" I asked, cautiously taking the collar from her.

"Only as a contingency," She said nonchalantly. "You never know when they might be necessary."

"If you say so," I said before turning and walking out the door.As I left her office, I took my time to collect my thoughts. It worried me that Lisa had made power cancellation collars for all of her siblings, including me, even though I was working with her. Who else was on Lisa's list? I already knew Lynn was on her list for sure, especially after she broke into her hideout. I wondered whether she'd want me to go after either Spider-Ace or Shade in the future. After all, she had mentioned being rather annoyed by their interference in the Star Labs heist. Was there anyone else on her kill list? It was bad enough that she was willing to kill one of us, but what was stopping her from deciding that we all had to go?

I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. Whether I agreed with Lisa's methods or not, I had a job to carry out. It had actually been a while since I had seen or heard anything about Lana. While most of my family either used their newfound abilities to be heroes or for their own personal gain, Lana was one of the few who kept a low profile. It's not like she vanished into thin air or anything, more like she went off the grid and did everything in her power to stay under the radar. Still, finding her shouldn't be much of a hassle.Even after all these years, it still took me some time to get used to going from the city to the forest. It was just such a jarring change in atmosphere that it caught me off guard. Luckily for me, I had my music and a pair of earphones to better help me adjust. I took them out as soon as I made it to where I was headed and began hiking along a trail. I needed to be all ears if I wanted to catch Lana as quickly as possible. With every step I took, I kept an ear out for any odd noises while keeping my eyes peeled for anything that looked out of the ordinary. I was observant of every single sound I heard from a twig snapping under my foot to leaves rustling in the wind. In the distance, I could hear the laughter and chattering of a group of carefree hikers. Something told me to keep an ear out for them as they might prove useful later.

Part of me was reluctant to believe that Lana was the perpetrator of all these animal attacks. While she could be aggressive sometimes and took part in our sibling fights, it was completely out of her character to attack innocent people. Then again, none of us were really the same after the virus. It changed us almost completely on both a physical and mental level. One needed to look no further than Lisa to see that. Once a promising child genius, she was now a power hungry egomaniac. Had Lana undergone a similar change in personality? Had her love of nature turned into an animalistic jungle girl? Or, even scarier, had this side of Lana always existed and her newfound power gave her the courage to fully express it?No, that couldn't be the reason, I refused to accept that as an explanation! The virus was to blame for all of this, which only fueled my desire to find a cure for Sam. I could only hope that the virus didn't change her personality after she was freed from its effects. Of course, if I wanted that remedy, it was imperative that I completed this task. No matter what the reason for Lana's change in character, I was here to capture her and I wasn't going to let anyone or anything stop me.The further along the trail I walked, the more oddities I noticed. I walked past several woodland critters such as rabbits, squirrels, and birds; that wasn't the odd part. The odd part was that each and every animal I crossed seemed to have its eyes trained on me, as if they were watching my every move. They didn't seem hostile or out to attack me, at least not yet, they were just watching me with unblinking eyes. At least, until I turned my head to look directly at them, at which point they'd deliberately avert their gaze. Admittedly, it was kinda creepy, feeling like a scene out of a Hitchcock movie, but I trekked on and did my best to ignore them. The most I had to worry about was one of the birds taking a dump on my head or something. If any of the little pests wanted to try anything, I'd be more than happy to turn them all into a popsicle.Taking a second to laugh at myself for being unnerved by Lana's furry/feathery friends

Taking a second to laugh at myself for briefly being intimidated by Lana's furry/feathery friends, I continued on my search. These creepy critters were not going to get in my way. Every now and then, I turned around just to make sure they weren't following behind me or anything. Thinking about them reminded me of a date that Sam and I had been on that'd almost been ruined when a mother bird decided that my hair made for the perfect nest. Luckily for me, Sam thought that it was cute, she always did have a soft spot for animals. I started wondering if I actually should freeze one of the birds and present it to her as a gift after she was actually cured.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard a scream in the distance. My intuition to keep an ear out for that group of hikers had paid off. I immediately turned on my heels and sprinted towards the source of said screaming. As I did so, I noticed that a few birds that were perched in the trees were flying right behind me. I had a bad feeling that they were going to try getting in my way. The screaming was growing louder the closer I got and it sounded absolutely panicked; you could hear the clear fear in the hikers' voices. I just hoped that I wasn't wasting my time trying to come to their aid. Heck, for all I know, whatever was attacking them might not have even been Lana.

A howl echoed throughout the woods, followed by another scream, letting me know I was on the right track. After two minutes of running at top speed, I made it to a clearing in the woods, where I found three terrified hikers (two men and a woman) cowering and backing away from a large wolf. One of the men held a big stick in their hand and tried swatting at the wolf to drive it off while the other man was nursing a gruesome slash on his forearm and the woman was pointing a flare gun at the wolf. The wolf wasn't intimidated in the slightest and snatched the stick out of the man's hand with its teeth. It looked ready to lunge before I interfered in the knick of time and punched it in the face while my fist was encased in ice for extra impact.

"If I were the three of you, I'd run. Now." I advised the trio.

"We shall heed your advice and act accordingly," The injured man said, he and his friends running away, leaving me to deal with the wolf alone. I was thankful that they hadn't objected or say something like "We can't let you take on this animal alone". They likely would've just gotten in the way.

The wolf shook its head clear before transforming into the young girl I was familiar with. In place of the overalls I was used to seeing her wear, she instead wore nothing except a crudely made leopard print dress that was reminiscent of what a stereotypical caveman would wear and her trademark red hat. Judging by the look on her face, she was both surprised and angry to see me.

"Luna," She hissed, glaring daggers at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," I replied. "Although, I'm more curious as to why you attacked a group of innocent hikers?"

"Innocent?" Lana scoffed. "Ha! They were far from innocent! Take a look down at your feet and you'll see just how 'innocent' they were" I looked down and saw the wrapper for a granola bar lying on the ground. "People like them are constantly leaving their trash lying around where some woodland critter could mistake it for food and choke on it or polluting this beautiful forest that they call home! I could not let their actions go unpunished!"

"Ohhhh, I get it," I said. "You're all about saving the planet, recycling and all that stuff, right?"

"Why not?" Lana retorted. "We only have one planet and I am not going to let innocent animals have their homes destroyed because of the destructive nature of mankind! Those fools are lucky I let them live! I could've torn them apart if I wanted to!"

"You don't think that maybe telling them "Hey guys, could you please pick up your trash" would be the better response?" I asked sarcastically as the two of us circled each other like wild animals gearing up for a fight.

"They wouldn't have listened" Lana snarled. "It starts small with just a candy wrapper, then it turns into them burning down the forest with their carelessness! There's no bargaining with humans!"

"Need I remind you that you're human?" I replied.

"Maybe so, but I am something even greater than man!" She said. "With the ability to transform into any animal on this planet, I am the Defender of the Planet!" She narrowed her eyes and me and continued "Which brings me back to my first question: Why are you here, Luna?"

"Well, you've been making the news lately, Beast Girl," I told her. "And I was given the task of capturing you and bringing you in safely"

"Beast Girl? Is that what they're calling me?" Lana asked, having a confused look that quickly turned into one of glee. "That is so metal! I actually love it! I'll gladly take up that moniker! However…" She glared directly into my eyes as she transformed into a gorilla. "If you think that you can come into my home and take me away, you're sorely mistaken."

"Come on, sis, don't make this harder than it needs to be," I tried convincing her to back down, not even remotely intimidated by her transformation.

For my troubles, I was hit by a massive gorilla punch that sent me flying. I bounced off of a tree and dropped to my knees, shaking my head before becoming enraged. If she wanted a fight, I'd be more than happy to give her one. Lana charged at me full speed, her arm cocked back for another punch, but I created a patch of ice on the ground, causing her to slip and crash hard into the ground. I tried stomping on her face while she was on her back, but she turned herself into a pigeon at the last second and evaded my attack. She flew circles around my head while I tried swatting at her. When she was directly over my head, she changed into a hippopotamus in an attempt to crush me. Fortunately, I was able to roll out of the way fast enough to avoid that outcome and retaliated with an ice spear to her backside.

Lana grunted and changed back into human form, pulling the spear from her butt and hurling it at my head. I was quick enough to dodge, but that's when Lana's woodland friends made their move. Her bird friends formed a swarm and flew around me, leaving me unable to see Lana. I shooed them away, but their distraction left me wide open to strong kick to the chest from Lana in the form of a horse. That kick knocked the breath out of me, causing me to lean against a tree to try getting some air back into my lungs. As I leaned up against the tree, Lana turned into a deer and charged at me with the intent of impaling me with her antlers. Once again, I proved quick enough to get out of the way and Lana ended up getting her antlers stuck in the tree. I took advantage of her vulnerability by delivering a few swift kicks to her abdomen when I felt something crawl up my leg and bite me.

It was one of the squirrels I'd come across earlier. I reached down and grabbed the little bugger, tempted to crush it in my hand. Before I got the chance however, two more squirrels pounced out of nowhere and latched onto my arm, sinking their teeth into my flesh. I let out a shout as I tossed the first squirrel aside and dealt with the two currently biting my arm. I slammed my arm into a tree, knocking them out.

Their interference gave Lana enough of an opening to ram into me full force in the form of a goat, knocking me off my feet. Those little fur balls were really starting to get on my nerves. Lana reared up to charge me once again as the birds once again blocked my field of view. This time though, I was prepared and used their tactic to my advantage. I could hear Lana approaching and as soon as the birds flew away, I threw up a wall made of solid ice. Lana was running too fast and didn't have nearly enough time to react accordingly before she slammed headfirst into the wall. It must've knocked her for a loop as I heard her revert back to human form, groan and fall to the ground. I stepped out from behind the wall and walked over to where Lana lies prone. For a second, I feared I'd accidentally killed her only to relax when I saw that she was still breathing and in fact, starting to stir.

I had to act quick and pulled out the collar Lisa had given me. I reached down to put it around her neck before she regained consciousness, only for a bird to swoop down and try snatching it from my hand. I held tight and cursed under my breath as me and the bird engaged in a tug of war. That's when the rabbits from earlier made their presence known by biting at my hand in an effort to get me to let go. The birds joined in, chirping in my ears and pecking at my head.

"That's it! I've had it up to here with you pests!" I shouted before making good on my promise from earlier and turning each and every one of Lana's forest friends (fiends) into ice cubes. Lana saw all of this and wasn't too happy with what I'd done.

"How- How dare you?!" She screamed. "I'll make you pay for that. I'LL MAKE YOU PAY DEARLY!"

In the blink of an eye, Lana transformed into a T. rex and whipped me with her tail, the force propelling me into a boulder. If her intent was to intimidate me, it wasn't working. All she'd managed to do was give me an even bigger target. She tried stomping on me, but I summoned a giant ice spike from the ground, stabbing her in the foot. She let out a roar and stepped back before trying to snap me up with her jaws. I countered that by muzzling her mouth shut with ice and made several icicles, which I sent flying towards her. My icicles bounced off of her like a ball being thrown against a wall. She attempted to whip me with her tail again, by I leaped over her attempt and instead began climbing it like a staircase. Lana tried shaking me off, but I held on for dear life, making my way towards her head. Once I was standing directly on her head, I crafted two large boulders made of ice and dropped them directly on her skull. Lana swayed back and forth before toppling over onto the ground unconscious, creating a crater in the process. She reverted back to her human form, where she looked as if she were just taking a nap. I wasn't going to wait for any other distractions and quickly put the collar around her neck. Just to be extra safe, I crafted a pair of cuffs made out of ice and put them around her wrists and ankles.

I hadn't expected this job to be exactly easy, but it was safe to say that Lana had proved to be quite a challenge to catch. I expected nothing less from her if I were being honest; beneath the feathers, fur, scales or whatever animal she'd taken the form of, she still had the fiery Loud Family spirit. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have anyone to fight for in the same vein that I did. I hoisted Lana up over my shoulder and started making my way back to Lisa's. It had only been two hours since I'd left, meaning I made good on my promise to capture Lana with time to spare. Hopefully, my efficiency would be rewarded when the time came. Until that time came however, I could only wonder who I'd be sent to bring in next. Whoever it was, they were as good as got. The desire to save the love of my life had given me infinite resolve and no one was capable of matching up to that.

END ISSUE 3


	4. Issue 4: Lisa

Woe be to it to those considered geniuses, for the world will never understand their plight. The general population will never understand the struggles of people with the brightest minds. How we often go unappreciated despite the fact that our efforts usually lead to the overall betterment of society. How we are often ostracized because of our brilliance by the envious lower IQ reprobates. The average person will never understand how hard it is to be a genius. It is a struggle that not even my siblings could hope to empathize with me over. Some of them even have the audacity to believe that I'm a villain. The only sensible conclusion I can reach is that they're so blinded by their envy of my brilliance that they ignore my benevolent intentions. I don't see any of them conducting extensive research of a deadly disease in search of a cure. Not only that, but I'm seeking to usher the world into a new golden age.

What are they doing in comparison? They're busy playing superhero and acting as vigilantes. Or, better yet, they're using their abilities for their own gain, which at times includes using them with malevolent intent. None of them can even come close to making the progress that I am. Sure, they can argue that my ultimate end goal to take over the world is a bit extreme, but if I'm being honest, would the world really be any worse under my world? A world guided by my leadership would see gifted minds flourish and given an opportunity to succeed. There'd be a focus on improving medical advances and scientific studies. It may sound like hyperbole, but with me at the helm, I'd bring Earth into a golden age.

You see, when I stricken with the mysterious virus, seemingly knocking on death's door, I had an epiphany. I realized that throughout my short life, I'd been wasting my knowledge and talents. I was throwing away my potential entirely. I made a vow to myself then and there that if I were to pull through and make a full recovery, I'd dedicate my life to making a true change. Ever since I was infected, I can see it clear, I was meant to rule the world, I just needed a little gear. It might take some time for all the pieces to fall into place, but I would ultimately reign triumphant. Never again would I waste my life away when I could be reaping the benefits that life had to offer.

The work of an intellectual never comes to an end, it's a burden I've come to accept for the sake of humanity. I shall proudly shoulder the load so that mankind may further evolve. After my confrontation with Lincoln, Lynn, and Lio, I had been hard at work on upgrading my killing androids. Doing away with the slow, bulky, heavyset design of the model I used back there, I instead opted for a lighter, sleeker model. Something that could move quick enough to evade attacks from the speedy wannabe heroes I called family. Simultaneously, I was busy studying a sample of the virus, trying to break it down on a molecular level to see what composed it. Much to my astonishment, I discovered that the virus was nothing like any disease found on Earth. From my perspective, there were only two possible explanations: either this was an entirely new strain of virus that had never been seen before or it was a virus completely foreign to Earth, which would explain why it bore no similarities to any disease on record. Whatever the case, it was my duty to find a way to defeat it once and for all.

Of course, the virus' mysterious origins weren't the only oddity surrounding it. During my research, I found that this particular strain of disease was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Most viruses had a purpose of some sort, whether it be to reproduce while inhabiting its host or act as a parasite and scrounge nutrients from said host. Aside from spreading itself to other potential carriers, this virus seemed to have no purpose other than to kill its host body, even if doing so was detrimental to its own sustenance. This caused me to speculate that those who had survived it possessed a certain genetic mutation that allowed them not only to survive, but further evolve into an even stronger specimen. Therefore the key to curing it lied in modifying the DNA of every infected human so that they would obtain said evolution and pull through.

Any normal scientist would scoff and say that this was merely the process of natural selection in action. They would've acted as the stereotypical social Darwinist and dismissed those who died as being weaker, inferior humans undeserving of life. Not I. While it may have been true that they were indeed weaker, I believed that they were still deserving of living. Deserving of a chance to become greater than what they were before. Doing anything other than developing a cure would be admitting my inability to do such a thing. It would the equivalent of confessing my incompetence for all the world to see. For me, nothing was outside the realm of possibility. I needed to find a cure, not just to demonstrate my superiority, but to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was worthy of leading the new world. I was so close to cracking the code that I could almost taste it. I was just missing one key element. If lower lifeforms such as viruses were capable of speech, there was little doubt in my mind that this one would be mocking me, laughing at me, taunting me over my failure so far.

In between working on my cybernetic soldiers and researching the disease, came the task of keeping up with the activities of my siblings. A few of them had deluded themselves into thinking that they were actually "heroes". As long as they stayed out of my way, I could allow them to continue playing out their little fantasies. Ironically, it was the siblings of mine who'd decided to take the path of selfish "villainy" who could be the most useful to me. Even the one who'd lost all touch with reality would ultimately prove beneficial to my cause. It was three of my "heroic" siblings however who'd proven that they could be very detrimental to my plans.

My brother, Lincoln, aka Spider-Ace, while appearing to be nothing more than a snarky fool in a costume, was more clever than most give him credit for. I knew firsthand not to underestimate his wit. He'd already deduced my grand scheme back at that electronics store. If he found out the true reason I wanted those anti-gravity modules, everything that I'd worked so hard to build could fall apart. Second on the list was my sister, Lynn, or as she was known by the public, Captain Marvel/Shazam. The fact that she had the audacity to break into my offices, snoop around in my labs and try to undermine the foundation of my research made my blood boil. She wasn't as deductive as Lincoln, but her powers were what made her very dangerous. Out of everyone in my family, I'd consider her to be the most powerful. Well, second most powerful. Perhaps I should get to work on building that power suit that can withstand her power.

Then there was my brother, Lio, aka Shade. In contrast to the other two, his powers weren't anything to write home about. That didn't stop him from being a potential thorn in my side as his ability to blend in and travel through shadows made it easy for him to infiltrate any facility. It was the perfect ability pertaining to stealth. That wasn't my main issue with him however. What truly made him a threat to me were his healing and restoration powers. He could perfectly heal any ailment and perfectly repair any object to pristine condition. That brought into question whether he could potentially cure the virus using his powers. If he could, that would render all my research pointless and he'd become a major spanner in the works. Development of the cure was what was keeping Luna under my employ. If she found out that Lio could cure Sam's condition with a single touch, our partnership would no doubt fall through.

Speaking of Luna, my work on the newest killbots was brought to a sudden and brief halt when she entered my office, holding a kicking and thrashing Lana over her shoulder. The latter was screaming threats at both her and me, but I had to commend Luna for keeping a cool head, no pun intended. She seemingly had tuned our sister out entirely, not responding to her threats at all aside from a single eye roll. Plus, she'd kept her promise of delivering Lana to me within the time frame she had set for herself. I could ill afford to lose her assistance. Aside from the Joker, Shade was definitely next on my list. Right now, though, there was the rambunctious runt I had on my hands.

"You won't get away with this!" Lana shouted, struggling with all her strength in an effort to escape Luna's grip. "After everything you've done, I'll make sure you pay for all of this! I can't believe that after all your talk about never selling out again, you did just that and sided with one of the scummiest companies in the world!" She pointed at me and yelled. "And you! You're behind all of this, aren't you!? You're even worse than she is! How could you turn against your own family like this!? You're disgusting, you rat! If it's the last thing I do, I swear I'll rip your face off and-"

With an admittedly condescending smile, I responded to her empty threats by saying "Now, now, Lana, that's no way to greet your sister." I had every right to be at least a little smug. With that neutralizing collar around her neck, there was no way she could hurt me. Whether she liked it or not, she was at my mercy.

"Oh, I'll give you a proper greeting you self righteous, egotistical little bi-" She shouted before I cut her off.

"Language, language," I scolded her. "Think about what Mom Dad would say if they heard you trying to use words like that."

"Think about what they'd say if they saw what you've become!" Lana retorted.

"As if you're one to talk," I argued. "Tsk, tsk, attacking innocent people in the woods, you should be ashamed of yourself, Lana."

"Why I oughta…" Lana growled as Luna placed her on the ground. It was obvious that she was trying to transform into another form, only to fail. Nice to know that the collar was working as intended. Then again, there was never any doubt that any invention of mine would fail to function. Luna and I watched for a couple of minutes as Lana desperately tried in vain to change, quickly tiring herself out in the process. "Hey? What's going on? Why can't I transform? I'm envisioning it and I'm completely focused so why can't I switch forms?"

"My poor, naive Lana, did you think that collar around your neck was just an accessory?" I asked, unable to keep from smirking. "No, no. You'll find that that collar has cancelled out your powers, leaving you unable to turn into your more bestial forms. However, I am curious, do you still retain the enhanced senses from some of the animals you can transform into; for example, do you still possess the enhanced sense of smell of a dog?"

"I don't know, let me see," Lana said spitefully, sniffing the air before sarcastically saying "Yeah, I've still got my sense of smell and you? You reek of evil, smelling worse than one of Lily's diapers."

"Evil, you say?" I replied. "You've got it all wrong, dear sister. All of my intentions are fully benevolent. Evil is someone like you, who goes on a rampage like a wild animal."

At this point, Luna spoke up, asking me "So what do you want me to do with her?"

"We want our sister to feel right at home, do we not? Lock her in a cage and place her in the kennel with the other animals," I answered.

"You'll regret this, Lisa!" Lana screamed as Luna carried her away. "I'll make sure of it! You won't get away with this!"

I drowned her out as I went back to work on my mechanical soldiers, something that was made much easier with my psychic powers. I'd been so focused on upgrading their physical attributes that I'd forgotten to make some adjustments to their A.I. Lincoln was right back at that electronics shop, my androids were all might and not too bright. That had to change if I wanted to have even the slightest chance of victory. I'd make sure to keep a close eye on Lana, make sure she didn't try anything crazy. Although then again, no matter what she did, it would ultimately work out in my favor. She was just another pawn in my game.

My attention was grabbed for the slightest of moments when I overheard a news story on TV. To most, the story was nothing noteworthy, simply touching on another jewelry store robbery. To me, it was a potential lead regarding the whereabouts of another sister of mine. I could only let out a sigh. Why couldn't my family put their powers to truly good use like I had done? They could've agreed to work with me and help bring about a modern day renaissance. I would've gladly carved out a slice for them, whatever they desired. We could've been one big happy family again… like we were before. A speck of dust must've gotten in my eyes because I found myself having to wipe a few stray tears from my eyes. I took that as a sign to quit fantasizing on what could've been and focus on my project at hand.

I finished designing the latest mecha-soldier shortly thereafter. All that was left was start mass producing them so that they'd be up and ready to go whenever I needed them, which I felt would be pretty soon. With that out of the way, I decided to train with my psychokinesis in order to hone them. It was inevitable that I'd be brought into a confrontation with my siblings and in the event that my technology malfunctioned or otherwise failed me, I would definitely help me if I had increased the potency of my abilities. No matter how improbable the scenario of my inventions failing me may seem, I had to take the possibility of it occurring into account. Acknowledging one's vulnerability is what separates the victors who reap the spoils from the losers who taste bitter defeat.

When I first began my partnership with Paxton Industries or more specifically, Wilbur Paxton, I had a specially crafted training/simulation room constructed for my use. I went to great lengths to keep it a secret from the other employees. Some of them were already weary of having to work under the command of a five year old. A few of them I was sure were plotting my demise, no need to give them further reason to betray me. I stepped inside the room and began messing with the settings for the training simulation. For this particular session, I was going to simulate a possible battle between myself and the team of Lincoln Lynn. I set the difficulty to the intermediate level and began.

The simulation instantly dropped me off in the middle of Royal Woods. I had no time to prepare as I immediately was forced to dodge webshots from Lincoln. Lynn attempted to blindside me from behind, but I was able to throw up a force field just in time. Lincoln shot another web at me, but I ducked. I quickly realized that he wasn't aiming for me when I glanced behind me quick enough to see that he had ensnared a metal bench and wall pulling it towards me. I leaped over the bench, but was hit by a massive punch from Lynn. Fortunately, just like the real Lynn, the Lynn of the simulation was holding back immensely.

Rolling back to my feet, I saw Lincoln move in close for another attack. I countered his action by using my psychokinesis to grab hold of a parking meter and hurl it at him. His spider sense must've given him a heads up because he caught hold of the meter in his hand and swung it at me like a baseball bat. Since that didn't work, I figured I'd do the next best thing, which was to catch him in my telekinetic grasp. He struggled, trying to reach out towards me, but my psychic powers were too strong for him. I heard Lynn flying towards me so I quickly turned around and tossed Lincoln at her. Lynn caught Lincoln in her arms, but her lack of spider sense meant that I could blindside her by grabbing a car and smashing her with it. Lincoln managed to jump out of the way, but his hesitation to attack in favor of checking on Lynn left me with an opening. With a collar in my hand, I sprang towards him, hoping to depower and capture him.

Once again, his spider sense threw a wrench in my plan as Lincoln sidestepped and blasted me with web. I found myself bound against a street post. The adhesive of Lincoln's web held quite well and it appeared that I had been rendered immobile and thus, defeated. However, my resolve is rivaled by none and with some quick thinking, I managed to wriggle free. However, I kept up the appearance that I was trapped with the intent of luring Lincoln in for me to use the collar on him. Lincoln was smart enough to not fall for that trap however and instead tried restraining my with more webs. In the heat of the moment, I used my psychokinesis to stop his web dead in its tracks and sent them right back at him.  
Naturally, he evaded each of them and leapt into the air. I realized that I had been underutilizing my psychokinesis and caught him in midair before slamming him against a wall. I began pulling him towards me, ready to put the collar around his neck as he desperately struggled to escape. Before I got the chance however, Lynn charged at me, forcing me to throw up a barrier. My force field, while protecting me from Lynn's attack, wasn't strong enough to fully shield me from the impact of her blow. The shockwaves sent me crashing hard onto the ground with little time to react before Lynn pounced at me to deliver another attack.

Then, something strange happened. I imagined Lynn suddenly stopping in place, envisioning her being stunned by a sudden jolt of pain. Much to my surprise, my vision came to be with Lynn inexplicably grasping at her head and collapsing to the ground. I was perplexed. Was this merely a coincidence or had my psychic powers evolved to the point where I could attack someone on a mental level as well as physical. Needless to say, further analysis would be required. In either case, the distraction lasted long enough for me to clamp my collar around Lynn's neck, depowering her in an instant. I watched as she shouted "Shazam!" in vain. Looking to make sure my previous attack wasn't a fluke, I concentrated and delivered a second psychic attack, knocking her out cold. That only left Lincoln.

Seeing what I'd done to Lynn, the simulation Lincoln began to keep his distance, settling on trying to ensnare me with his webs. I tried hitting him with a psychic attack, but it had no effect. Huh, it would appear that my newfound ability had a glaring limitation in that my intended victims had to be within a certain range for it to be effective. Perhaps I could better hone this power and even evolve it in the future. Right now though, I'd have to work with what I had. I tried to play possum in order to lure Lincoln in, but Lincoln was having none of it. Had he managed to deduce my new ability already? That wouldn't be unlike the real Lincoln, but I hadn't expected him to uncover the truth so quickly.  
No, that couldn't be it. What had likely happened was that after seeing what had happened to Lynn, Lincoln had deduced that I had done something new to incapacitate her. Even if he didn't know what that new something was, he had the common sense to keep his distance until he could figure it out for himself. Very well, if he wasn't going to come to me, I'd have to come to him. I picked up an empty city bus and tossed it at Lincoln. With his own super strength, Lincoln was able to catch it and gently place it back on the ground. The "hero" in him meant that he instinctively had to make sure that no one was on board the vehicle. Ha, as if I'd be so disgusting as to put innocent people in harm's way, even if they were lesser beings. Anyways, Lincoln's heroic instincts proved to be his undoing as it allowed me to get in close. He tried in vain to immobilize me with web. It was too late however, he was in my range. As soon as I was close enough, I blasted him with a psychic bolt, stunning him long enough for me to slip the collar around his neck. I delivered one more psychic attack to knock him out, securing my ultimate victory and bringing the simulation to a close.  
My first thoughts upon returning to reality were questioning whether I should've set the difficulty higher. My second thought was whether or not the evolution I had undergone was real. The ability to mentally stun opponents would be quite useful, not just in battle, but in dealing with subordinates as well. I thought of all the potential uses this new power had. Perhaps stunning them was just the start; in the future, I could maybe be able to induce hallucinations within them. I could be able to subconsciously implant thoughts into people's heads or going even further, hypnotize or outright control them. And if that were the case, I could enhance my powers to the point where I could control multiple people at once. The possibilities were endless. I fought to keep myself from laughing with glee.

Satisfied with the results of the simulation, I began jotting down notes. The sooner I was able to test this skill on a live person, the better. Leaving the simulation room, I decided to head downstairs to pay a visit to our latest visitor. Perhaps, she'd make the perfect test subject for my new power. I was expecting Lana to fly into a rage upon seeing me, but she was so preoccupied with trying to escape that she failed to notice me when I entered the room. I watched as she still futilely tried to pry the collar from around her neck, only stopping when she noticed my presence.

"Now, now, you don't want to tire yourself out, do you?" I taunted, flashing her a cheeky grin.

"You!" She shouted at me, shaking the bars of her cage. "Let me out of here! Now!"

"Oh? And what are you going to do if I don't?" I asked, stepping so that I was just within her reach only to take a step back when she tried grabbing at me through the cage. It reminded me of playing with Charles back before everything went down.

"You think this is funny?" She asked.

"In a way, yes I do," I admitted, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly while keeping that smirk on my face.

"Hmpf, I'll show you funny!" Lana threatened. "I'll show you what's funny when I'm ripping you to shreds with my teeth!"

"My, oh my, what's got you so worked up?" I asked.

"What you're doing, it makes my blood boil" Lana answered. "You think it's funny kidnapping these poor animals from their homes and using them for your sick experiments?"

"It's a necessary sacrifice that must be made for the greater good," I tried explaining to her, even though I knew she'd never understand. "Besides, animals aren't the only ones being tested."

"You're sick, you know that? You truly are twisted," Lana said.

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand what I'm trying to do," I told her. "But what you need to try to understand that everything I do serves a purpose. Nothing I do is done out of cruelty. While my methods may seem harsh, but I can say with the utmost confidence that they'll ultimately benefit everyone and everything on this planet."

"Cut the crap!" Lana snapped. "You may have fooled everyone else, including yourself, but you can't fool me! You're not doing this for humanity or the planet or anyone else, you're only doing this for your own selfish wants and you don't care who gets hurt in the process."

Try as I might to maintain my self-control, I couldn't stop my face from contorting in anger. I took a deep breath before calmly telling her "How dare you accuse me of being like the common, vulgar, simple minded clods! You have no idea the things I've sacrificed for this planet. I could've easily turned a blind eye to everything, took my ball and gone home. I could've done like you, let my power go to my head, go out into the woods and play Tarzan or some other nonsense, but I didn't!"

"Aww, what's wrong, did I touch a nerve?" She mocked me, having a smug grin on her face. I knew her game, she was trying to make me lose control. Trying to get me to lash out, scream, yell, and shout. It wasn't going to work, I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing my angry.

"Not in the slightest," I replied. "Do you expect me to behave like you? To act like a filthy animal?"

"Let me out of this cage and I'll show you how a filthy animal acts!" Lana replied.

"Thank you for proving my point," I said with a smile.

"I'd rather be in touch with animal side and be honest than be a wolf in sheep's clothing like you" Lana retorted.

"Being in touch with your animal side is precisely what landed you here in the first place," I pointed out. "If you want to continue to go ape, by all means go ahead. It won't do you any good."

"You can't keep me locked up in here forever, you know" Lana said. "I will get out of here and when I do, you're going to be sorry for"

"Again with the idle threats?" I questioned, letting out a yawn. "Please, don't waste my time."

"Whatever you're planning, you won't get away with it, that much is a fact!" Lana shouted.

I smiled at her and asked in response "Who, pray tell, will try and stop me?"

"I will," She answered. "And I know our siblings will too. They won't let you get away with this!"

"Speaking of our siblings," I changed the topic. "You should cheer up, you'll have some company real soon."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"In order to ensure everything goes off without a hitch, certain siblings of ours require being rounded up and brought here" I explained. "Such as a certain shy guy we know who stays hidden in the shadows."

"So I take you plan on capturing all of our brothers and sisters?" Lana asked.

"Not all of them," I stressed. "As long as she continues to behave, Luna will be exempt from this list. Then, there's that one sister who's just too unpredictable to be kept alive."

"Wait, you're going to kill one of our own flesh and blood?" Lana replied.

"Don't act so surprised," I retorted, reminding her "Just a few minutes ago, you were threatening to tear me to shreds. Are you really stunned?"

"And you think I'm a filthy animal?" Lana sarcastically replied.

"Because you are a filthy animal" I told her. "And all filthy animals get put down."

"Why you no good, rotten little…" She snarled, seeming ready to pounce, presenting me with the perfect chance to try my new trick.

Just like in the simulation, I envisioned Lana being stunned by a sudden jolt of pain and focused on projecting that vision into Lana's head. Much to my elation, what I envisioned came to be as Lana stopped mid pounce and fell to the ground, clutching her head in pain. She looked up at me with an expression of befuddlement.

"Lisa? What the heck did you just do to me!?" She asked, looking slightly scared.

"Since you were here, I thought it'd be fitting that you'd be the first to experience my newest ability," I explained. "What you just felt was a psychic attack from yours truly. If I could explain how it works: I imagined seeing you in pain, I projected that vision into your mind and your brain responded by making that pain real."

"How on, how did you?"

"Truth be told, I'm not quite sure," I admitted. "All I know is that this ability will come in handy. I'll check in on you later, but for right now, try to relax and get some sleep"

I used my psychic attack a second time, knocking her out. With a smile on my face, I walked out the door, leaving Lana to her own devices. Some might say that was a bad move as it gave her a chance to formulate an escape plan, but those people failed to understand that whether she escaped or not, it was all part of the plan. After all, when you're a genius, you plan for every possible outcome.

END ISSUE 4


	5. Issue 5: Beast Girl

Two days. That's how long I'd been in this corporate cesspool. It was bad enough that they kept me locked in a cage 24/7, but the fact that I had to hear the groaning and screaming of both humans and animals as they were being experimented on was driving me to my wits end. At least the blockheads running this place had the common decency to feed me, even if it were only once a day and the food consisted of stale pieces of bread and old fruit. If it was the last thing I did, I swore I would get my hands on both Luna and _especially_ Lisa. Why she had to get me involved in her crazy schemes, I had no idea. I was perfectly content to live peacefully out in the forest and mind my own business. I couldn't have cared less about her crazy schemes. Now though? Now I would do everything in my power to make sure that the empire she'd built up came crashing down on top of her. That being said, if I wanted my revenge, I was going to have to figure a way out of here. Finding a way to get this stupid collar off would be a good start.

Ever since I got here, I'd been trying to either rip this thing from around my neck or transform into something small like an ant so that I could slip free of it. I was still trying to figure out how the blasted thing worked. There was an electronic lock that kept it tightly secured so it's not like I could just pick it with a hair grip or a nail or something similar. I couldn't break it with brute strength nor could I short circuit the lock by dousing it with water. Not helping matters was the fact that the collar seemed to be indestructible. It soon became clear that the only way I was going to get this collar off would be if someone took it off for me, a realization that gave me an idea. While normally I hated having to resort to the puppy dog eyes wounded gazelle gambit, I had no other choice if I wanted to get out of here. I lay motionless on my back and waited patiently until the stooge assigned to bring me food to enter the room. When he arrived, I took great strides not to make a single move and only let out a single quiet cough as he placed the bread and fruit in front of my cage.

"Here's your grub, be sure to eat up," He said apathetically. "Your sister says she doesn't want you getting sick or anything." The idiot turned to leave, but stopped when he noticed that I had failed to move or make any other noise. "Hey, are you okay?"

Just like that, the bait had been taken. The idiot rushed over to my cage to check on me. I kept up the act, only twitching slightly and wheezing as if I were struggling to breathe. The idiot quickly flung open the cage and began tending to me, trying to figure out what was wrong. I continued playing my part, gasping and coughing as I made only small movements.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" The stooge exclaimed. "Ah man, Ms. Loud is going to kill me! Quick, what's wrong? A-A-Are you sick? Is that what it is?" I weakly shook my head "no". Although, taking into consideration what they'd been feeding me, it was miraculous that I hadn't fallen sick. I continued wheezing and coughing, hoping that the idiot would get the hint. "Oh? Oh! You can't breathe!" He exclaimed and I nodded, gesturing to my neck, pointing directly at the collar. "Ah, I get it! The collar, it's too tight and it's choking you!" I nodded frantically as the goon debated what he should do. "Aww man, I'm really not supposed to take the collar off of you" That's when I used the puppy dog eyes, looking pleadingly into his eyes. Needless to say, the fool fell for it hook, line, and sinker. "Of course, there's nothing saying I can't loosen it up to allow you some more air."

The idiot reached down and adjusted the collar. The second he loosened it, I sprang back to life, slipping the collar from around my neck. The idiot quickly realized he'd made a mistake and with the collar still in hand, tried putting it back around my neck. I was having none of that as I immediately changed into a lioness and swiped at him, knocking the collar out of his hands. The fool reached for his walkie talkie, but I pounced on him, biting him on his neck and sinking my teeth into his throat, crushing his windpipe and leaving him unable to speak. I tossed his limp body aside before I reverted back to my human form and kept a close ear out to make sure no one else had accompanied the idiot. Upon making sure the coast was clear, I stuffed the unfortunate man's body into my former prison and stepped out the door.

I found myself in the middle of a kennel, where dozens of dogs, cats, monkeys, guinea pigs, rats and rabbits were being held and primed for experimentation. They were all frightened and terrified, with some of them whimpering in fear. Using my ability to communicate with animals, I was able to ease their fears as I assured them that I'd get them out of there safe sound. One by one, I walked over to each of their cages and set them free. The monkeys were eager to get their revenge, wanting to beat down the scientists who had used them as test subjects. The other animals only wanted to escape the facility. Some of them even told me that they'd been taken from their loving families and just wanted to see their owners again. Once again, I had to calm them all down and assure them that they'd get their chance.

It was through the captive animals that I discovered we were in the basement, specifically inside a laboratory. The only way out was through an elevator and the only way we'd be able to make it would be if we got past all the scientists. We formulated a plan on the spot. The monkeys would attack the scientists which would provide a distraction and hopefully allow the rest of us to make a break for it and get away uninterrupted. I started things off by transforming into a gorilla and attacking the first geek I saw. The monkeys quickly followed suit.

"What on Earth is going on?" One doctor barely had time to ask before I smacked him with a punch to the face. The monkeys followed my lead, jumping on any doctor/scientist they saw and whaling on them with their fists.

"How did they escape?" One scientist asked, ducking for cover behind an examination table. "We has them tightly secured, there's no way they should've been able to get out."

As the monkeys continued their assault, I turned into a Boston terrier and guided the rest of the animals through the chaotic scene. I easily could've gone for a quiet escape, but there was no way I was leaving these guys behind. We ran through the halls as fast as we could, with the few scientists that escaped the carnage in the lab chasing after us. I encouraged my friends to go on and that I'd meet up with them shortly as I turned around, transformed into a bull and charged the scientists pursuing us, thrusting them into the air with my horns. After taking care of them, I turned back into my human form and rejoined the others. We reached the elevator shortly thereafter and as we waited, I transformed back into a gorilla and stood guard against anyone who looked to stop us. A few scientists wielding tranquilizer guns were the only thing standing in our way.

My animal reflexes were fast enough to catch every short they fired at me and I invited them to come at me. They wisely declined my invitation, standing all the way down at the other end of the hall. That is, until the elevator arrived, at which point they tried rushing us. A few swift uppercuts put them down for the count and left us free to go. Not wanting to hold things up any further, I hopped on board and closed the doors. As the elevator ascended, I felt a sudden urge telling me to transform into a wall crawler and cling to the ceiling of the elevator. It's a good thing I listened to the urge to because as soon as the elevator doors opened, a few of my companions were frozen solid in a matter of seconds by none other than Luna.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked, acting completely nonchalant as if she hadn't just frozen a bunch of living creatures solid.

Acting partially on instinct and partially on rage, I transformed into a cougar and lunged at Luna, tackling her to the ground. I raised my paw to slash at her with my claws, but Luna uses her legs to kick me off of her. I was really looking forward to a rematch of our last encounter so that I could get my well deserved payback on Luna. I lunged for Luna's neck, looking to repeat what I'd done to the idiot who'd been assigned to feed me. Luna was way quicker than that poor shmuck, grabbing me and flipping me over onto back, leaving me stunned for a few seconds. Luna turned her attention to remaining animals who hadn't been frozen by her initial move. I wasn't going to let her hurt them and pounced on her once again. This time I managed to slash her left shoulder, causing her to hiss in pain. I went to bite at her again before I suddenly felt my body growing very cold. I just barely managed to react in time and get away from her before she had completely encased me in ice. I'd forgotten about her flash freezing technique and it nearly proved a costly mistake. The good news was that she'd only managed to freeze one of my hind legs before I moved away. The bad news was that that still greatly hindered my movement. If she went for another attack, I wouldn't be able to dodge it.

Luna slowly approached me as I struggled, trying to free myself of the ice. She crafted a scythe made of ice and slashed me across my chest. I growled and shrank back as Luna prepared to freeze me over for a second time. My animal friends came to my aid, with three of the dogs pouncing on Luna. The distraction allowed me to shatter the ice encasing my leg and with all the strength I had remaining, I slashed at Luna, knocking her to the ground, just as she had finished freezing the three dogs and encasing them in ice. While I wanted to exact my revenge, I knew that there was no time for that. I gathered the animals that were left and made my escape through the front door, silently vowing that I'd come back for the others. I transformed into a robin and took to the skies, flying off towards the forest. This wasn't over, far from it. I'd make sure that Lisa paid.

Once I was back in the forest, I took the time to regroup. My battle wounds healed rather quickly and I began formulating a plan. Lisa and the humans thought it was okay for them to barge into my territory and rip innocent creatures away from their homes? Okay, let's see how much they'd like it when the tables were turned. Oh, and I wasn't going to strike when they least expected. I was going to strike on the best day possible and make sure that Lisa looked like a fool when I did it.

I spent the next couple of days plotting out my next course of action. I gathered up as many forest animals as I could for this strike. There were my usual companions in the form of squirrels, birds, and rabbits, but I knew that they alone weren't going to cut it. I recruited the assistance of deer, wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, bears, and more for my assault. If Lisa sent Luna out here to recapture me, she'd be in for quite a surprise. Honestly, part of me was surprised Lisa hadn't already sent her after me.  
I had picked the perfect day to lead the strike against Lisa, having chosen the day that the corrupt company she had partnered herself with would be making a major announcement outside city hall with Lisa herself taking center stage. How quickly her world would come crashing down when a bunch of "filthy animals" took the spotlight away from her. Of course, she'd have bigger things to worry about, mainly what I was going to do to her when I got my paws on her. I wouldn't even give her a chance to regret everything she'd done. When the day came about, I was almost shaking with anticipation to the point where my friends had to keep me calm.

The presentation began shortly thereafter, with a representative taking the stage. I made the first move, transforming into an inconspicuous tabby cat and casually walking in between rows of people as the idiot droned on on for what seemed like an eternity. Nobody seemed to pay me any attention, with the exception of a few jerks who felt the need to kick at me. I made a mental note to myself to make sure that they got their comeuppance. I spotted Lisa sitting off on the side of the stage, impatiently looking down at her wristwatch. I kept a level head and restrained myself from lunging at her then and there as I continued making my way towards the stage. Finally, Lisa made her way up to the microphone and began to make her speech.

"I'd like to thank all you wonderful ladies gentlemen for being able to make it here today," Lisa began. "As I'm sure you're all aware, thanks to my ingenious knowledge of medicine, Paxton Industries has been leading the charge when it comes developing treatment for the mysterious illness that plagued our fair town not too long ago…"  
As she spoke, I continued making my way towards the stage when I noticed something odd. Looking up, I could see a figure crawling along the roof of city hall, seemingly unnoticed by all. Taking a closer look, I could make out a few discerning features, allowing me to recognize the figure as… Lincoln? What was he doing here? Had he teamed up with Lisa too? Pfft, it didn't matter. If he got in my way, he could get mauled too. I disregarded Lincoln's presence as I finally made it onstage, while Lisa kept talking.

"While our medical efforts are definitely worth talking about, that's not what I'm here to talk with you about today," Lisa said. "What I want to talk about is our companies latest developments in robotics and security…"

I could hear a few hushed whispers as I slowly stalked towards Lisa. "Hey, what's that cat doing on stage?" "Um, is that cat part of the presentation?" "What's it doing?" "Should we maybe stop it?" "Quick, grab that kitten!" A couple of guards came running towards me, trying to scoop me up. I dodged and made a break for Lisa, but was cut off by another guard. Through all this, Lisa didn't seem bothered at all and continued speaking as if nothing were happening. In fact, I could've at one point I saw Lisa turn towards me and smirk.

My attempts to get at her were continually interrupted, forcing me to prematurely spring into action and call me animal friends for assistance. The strike started small, a couple birds landing on people's heads, squirrels crawling around people's feet; nothing to really raise eyebrows. A few of the squirrels crawled onto the stage, drawing attention away from me for the brief moment. It wasn't a big enough window however for me to reach me goal. More guards were called out to deal with the growing number of animals onstage. I was starting to lose my cool. I wanted more than anything to just lash out, attack Lisa and get it over with. Still, I tried to stay calm as I ran in circles evading the guards. The people in the crowd were starting to become curious as to what was going on, a few of them becoming impatient with the small critters roaming around. Some of them tried stomping at the squirrels while others violently tried hitting the birds out of the sky. Now I had to deal with the audience testing my patience.

Looking back up towards the roof, I could see Lincoln watching everything transpired roof, I could see Lincoln slowly standing to his feet. Strangely, he didn't make any other move aside from that. He was simply watching, unsure of whether he should get involved or not. I was relieved that for right now he was staying out of it. It made things so much easier for me. I made the mistake of taking my eyes off the prize for even a second as it allowed one of the security guards to grab me. I wriggled out of his grasp and leapt onto his face, scratching and clawing at it. Through all of this, Lisa continued with her speech, either being so self absorbed and caught up in her speech that she didn't notice the calamity happening in the background or she just didn't care. I was genuinely impressed by just how effectively she was able to drown this out. The guard holding me ripped me off of his face and tossed me aside like I was a sack of potatoes at which point, I finally lost my temper and snapped. I dropped the pretenses and changed into a grizzly bear, sending two guards flying with a swipe of my paw.  
The crowd screamed as my fellow animals made their presence known. Bears emerging from the woodworks, mountain lions jumping out from seemingly nowhere, catching people off guard as they ran for their lives. I watched as Lincoln finally made his move, swooping down from the roof just in time to save the mayor from one of my wolf friends. He looked at me for a brief second, seemingly recognizing me and was about to make his way over to me before he was blindsided by a charging deer. If Lincoln knew what was good for him, he'd stay as far away from me as possible.

About 30-40 or so employees of Powers Industries or Paxton Industries or whatever the heck they were called ran out to deal with the uprising, armed with only a few tranquilizer pistols and rifles. I couldn't help but chuckle. This was sure to be entertaining, watching four full grown men try to take on a mob of angry wolves, bears, and mountain lions with nothing but a few pitiful weapons. Even if they did manage to somehow survive against them, it wouldn't do any good. By now, City Hall has been overrun by animals and soon the entire city would follow suit. Then, after I'd dealt with my sister, I'd keep my promise to the captive animals back at the lab and free them from captivity. Speaking of Lisa, where oh where had she slithered off to? I had a feeling she wasn't looking forward to our sister bonding time.

The scene had devolved into complete and utter chaos, the presentation having been thoroughly trashed. I guess that she had tucked her tail between her legs and run away. Ironic, considering I was the one with the actual tail. Whether she had fled the area or not, it wouldn't help her since I could turn into a dog and track her scent. Before I could transform however, four security guards dogpiled on me, trying to restrain me long enough for them to inject me with a tranquilizer. I was having none of that, using my freakish strength to throw them off me and send them flying. A few of them came back for a rematch, but I quickly dealt with them using nothing more than a single paw swipe. I stared down at one lone guard, who was trembling with fear. He looked ready to cautiously approach before I bore my teeth at him and let out a low growl. The guard wisely threw away his weapon and ran for his life; he seemed like a good kid so I decided to let him go. With those nuisances out of the way, I transformed into a bloodhound and began tracking Lisa's scent. I didn't get too far before I ran into Lincoln.

"Lana, is that you?" He asked, kneeling down to look me in the eye.

"Well who else do you know can change into any animal on the planet?" I asked rhetorically, reverting to my human form.

"I would say long time, no see, but you don't seem too happy to see me," Lincoln said.

"That's because you're in my way," I told him harshly. "What are you even doing here? Don't tell me you're working with that slimy scumbag we call a sister too."

"What!?" He exclaimed, sounding almost offended by the accusation. That had bought him some time. "No! Not in a million years! Lynn told Lio I about the sketchy things she was doing so she I came here just to make sure Lisa didn't pull anything dangerous."  
"Wait, Lynn is here too?" I asked before hearing Lynn's voice yell out "YEE-HAW!". I quickly turned around to see Lynn wrestling with one of the bears I had recruited and easily manhandling it.

"C'mon, is that all you've got!?" She mockingly asked the bear as she held it down with ease. "At this rate, I probably don't even need my powers to take on you!"  
"What is she doing?" I growled, tempted to temporarily forget about Lisa in order to deal with Lynn. "How dare she…" I turned to walk towards her, only for Lincoln to grab me by my shoulder.  
"Lana, I need you to call off your friends," He said. "Listen, all of us want to defeat Lisa. We can work together and…" I didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence before changing into a lioness and slashing at him with my claws. His spider sense allowed him to jump out of the way with time to spare.

"Just stay out of my way!" I snarled, while Lincoln had an expression of shock. He looked like he wanted to say more, but didn't have time before having to deal with the wolf from earlier coming back for revenge. That took him out of my hair for the time being and left me free to continue my search for Lisa.

That's when everything went downhill. With all of the Paxton employees taken care of and Lincoln Lynn too busy grappling with my companions, I had no one standing in my way. Suddenly, what looked like hundreds of slim, silver humanoid robots with guns installed on their left arms emerged from seemingly out of nowhere. Without any discretion, they began gunning down any animal they saw, be it big or small. The sudden change of tide and display of cruelty shocked me so much that I unconsciously reverted to my human form. My eyes widened in horror while Lisa calmly stepped onto the stage, smug smirk plastered on her face, and spoke into the microphone once again.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted by these foul, disgusting beasts," She said. "Paxton Industries is forever changing the way robotics is handled with our new, state of the art androids. All abiding by the three laws of robotics, these cyber servants are well equipped to handle any situation, including security. In the event that its owners are threatened, these androids will respond swiftly… and efficiently."

I looked around, stunned to silence by what I was seeing. Her darned robots were even worse than the humans, showing no mercy as they filled anything that wasn't human with lead. They went to great lengths to ensure that no humans were harmed in the process of their intervention, being capable of shooting squirrels off the heads of Paxton scientists with laser like precision. If I hadn't lost control earlier, I certainly did now, lunging at the robot closest to me and relentlessly ripping it apart. Overcome by an almost feral rage, I spotted four robots going after a flock of birds and immediately went after them. Dodging bullets, I charged at them, pouncing on each one and reducing them to nothing but scrap metal in a matter of seconds. I was barely fast enough to change into a mockingjay and dodge a bullet fired at me from behind by an android that had sneaked up on me. Flying circles around its head, I changed into a leopard and demolished it before it had a second chance to shoot me. No matter how many robots I wrecked, more of them kept coming and my friends were paying the price for it. Not wanting to see anymore wildlife get viciously slaughtered, I had no choice but to order my animal friends to retreat.

That did nothing to cease the robots' rampage as they continued to go after the fleeing animals. I defended as many of them as I could before once again returning my attention to Lisa. In the midst of all this carnage, she remained onstage, watching everything unfold with a content smirk. Lincoln Lynn were preoccupied with trying to stop her machines from slaughtering any more animals while simultaneously trying to save people who were caught up in the calamity, Luna was nowhere to be found, and the security team from earlier had been dispatched. She was completely vulnerable, now was my chance. I slowly stalked towards the stage, avoiding any android that posed a danger, before breaking out into a full fledged sprint. Lisa turned towards me, her expression unchanging as I leapt at her. Not even her psychic stun would be able to phase me now. I was midair when I heard a loud POP and felt a sharp, burning pain in my abdomen that propelled me backwards. Hitting the ground hard, I could barely even move as I looked up to see Lisa walking towards me, one of her robots standing to her side, a thin trail of smoke coming from the gun at the end of its arm.

"Lana, Lana, Lana, I simply must thank you for playing your role to perfection," Lisa said to me as I changed back to my human form. "I must admit, for a second there, I was starting to wonder if you were even going to show up."

"What… What are you talking about?" I asked, clutching my stomach and trying to stand to my feet, only to slip back into the ground.

"Allow me to explain in terms that even you can understand," Lisa said. "I'll start from the very beginning. The moment I captured you, I planned for something like this to occur, right down to you escaping from the lab. I purposely had you locked up in the kennel with the lab specimen to incite your ire. I knew that with your desire for revenge, you wouldn't be able to resist crashing my big day so I figured I turn it into an opportunity to promote my new line of androids. I even told Luna to stay behind so that you'd be even more confident in your little uprising. In addition to helping me to showcase my machines as new, top of the line, effective means of security, your actions bolstered my reputation as a well meaning prodigy. Sure, there'll be some bad press over the fact that my machines killed a lot of animals, but given the fact that you directed them to attack the audience, said bad press will quickly blow over."

"You're telling me you planned all this?" I asked, skeptically. "Impossible!"

"You don't rise to the top of a major corporation by being a moron," Lisa gloated. "Even if you hadn't escaped, I could've simply boasted about the fact that I had captured the terrifying Beast Girl the tabloids were sensationalizing. The only way I would've lost would've been if you simply didn't show up"

"Low down, dirty, backstabbing…" I muttered, doing my best to try blocking out the pain.

"The only part I really regret is that our meeting had to end with your demise," Lisa said. "I didn't want it to have to end like this, Lana; really, I didn't. I was hoping that I could manipulate Lincoln Lynn into mistaking you for the enemy and capturing you for me, but alas, their distrust for me far outweighs their delusions of heroics."

Speaking of Lincoln Lynn, where the heck were they now when I could've needed them?

"This… this isn't over!" I hissed, too weak to transform.

"It is for you," Lisa said coldly. "I won't stick around to watch you die as it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. If I believed in some form of the afterlife, I'd tell you to say "Hi" to Mom Dad for me, but I suppose a simple goodbye will have to suffice. Farewell Lana."

She turned to leave as I rolled over onto my back. My vision was growing hazy and I could feel my consciousness fading. It truly was the end for me. I cursed myself not only for getting some of my friends killed, but for failing to keep my promise to the animals from the lab. As I prepared for the end, a dark shadow loomed over me before it went to black.

Much to my surprise, it wasn't the end for me. I woke up to find myself lying on soft grass looking up at the sky. My pain had gone away completely and I was once again able to transform. I shook my head before glancing behind me and seeing that many of my animal friends were at my side, sleeping peacefully. For a brief time, I thought that I had entered the afterlife before I heard a soft spoken voice say "That was a close one, for a second, I thought I'd lost you"

I looked around and saw that the voice was none other than my brother, Lio. It became evident that he'd used his powers to heal my injuries, but how and why he had done that was a mystery to me.

"How did you find me?" I asked angrily, grabbing him by his collar. Don't get me wrong, I was thankful to still be alive, but if this quiet little mouse thought he could hold that over me, he had another thing coming. "Last time I checked, your cowardly butt was nowhere near City Hall!"

"I may not have participated in the fighting, but I was watching from the shadows the whole time," he said calmly. "I apologize for my inaction, but I'm not exactly suited for multi-person fighting."

"Yeah, right," I scoffed. "If you wanted to prove yourself useful for once, you could've easily sneaked up on Lisa and snapped her neck to put an end to this crap! Heck, if you really wanted to do me a favor, that's what you could've done! Why did you even save me in the first place? Are you trying to get me to join you and Lynn and Lincoln? Is that why you did it?"

"What, no!" Lio replied.

"Oh really, then why did you save me?" I asked. "Even after I nearly killed all those people?" I snarled and transformed into a cheetah, bringing my face inches away from Lio's and baring my fangs at him, as my animal friends started to wake up as well. "Even though I could very easily kill _you_ right now if I wanted to?"

Lio remained incredibly calm as he looked me in the eye and casually explained "Because you're family"

"That doesn't exactly mean much these days," I argued, circling around him. "After all, look at Lisa. She was none too conflicted about trying to kill me even though we share the same blood. Are you actually telling me that that's the honest reason you saved me?"

"No matter what you did, you're still my sister," he said. "No brother wants to deal with the loss of his younger sister, especially after losing his parents."

As far as I could tell, he was telling the truth. He always had been sentimental and naive. I changed back to a human and told him "You really are something else, you know that?" I actually had to laugh at his naïveté. "You know, one of these days, your devotion is going to get you killed."

"Maybe so," he admitted. "But I'd rather die than let someone I care about bite the dust"

"If that's the case, you may wanna go after a certain crazy sister of ours," I told him.

"What do you mean?" Lio asked. I figured I might as well throw him a bone.

"Lisa's made it clear that she's going to come after all of us," I explained. "She's got these freaky collars that can cancel out our powers. Apparently, we're the biggest threats to her plans and she won't stop until she's captured all of us; except for Luna, but only because she's acting as her bodyguard. She plans on coming after you next so that you can't thwart her attempt at developing a cure with your healing powers. The only one she doesn't plan on capturing alive is Luan, who she says is too predictable to be allowed to live."

"Lisa told you all of this?" he asked.

"She figured I'd either never escape or that I wouldn't live long enough to warn all of you," I explained before admitting to him. "Honestly, I wasn't going to warn any of you, but since you saved my life, I figured it was the least I could do. Use that information as you wish, I don't care. Don't expect any more favors from me, you're on your own now."

"What about you?" Lio asked, sounding genuinely concerned about what would happen to me. "I mean, it's not too long before Lisa finds out you're alive. What are you going to do if she comes after you again?"

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself," I told him before flashing him a smirk and adding "In fact, if either Lisa or her lackey, Luna, come after me, it's them you should be worried about because if our paths cross again, they won't be nearly as lucky."

I picked up one of my rabbit friends and began gently petting her, glad that she was okay. With all that said, I turned to leave, only for Lio to stop me.

"Wait!" He yelled out, causing me to pause. Shrouding his face in shadow, he walked over to me and said "You be safe out there, Lana. I meant what I said earlier: no brother wants to lose their sister. I guarantee Lincoln feels the same way and so does Lynn."

"I'll keep that in mind," I told him before I delivered a sudden, swift chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out so that he couldn't follow me. "You do the same, Lio"

My animal friends began circling around his unconscious body, presumably taking him for an enemy and wondering if they should attack. I quickly waved them off and gestured for them to come with me. It was the least I could do to thank him for having the decency to heal my animal friends as well as myself. I knew this likely wasn't the last time I'd cross paths with one of my siblings; my only hope was that our next encounter would be more friendly.

END ISSUE 5

**Kicking off the new decade with a new chapter (that was written 3 months ago heheh) and new cover art provided by my good friend Creshosk! Hope you enjoyed.**


	6. Issue 6: The Joker

Mad? You dare to call me mad!? True! I may be nervous- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? Are you like the common plebeians in that you fail to understand my humor? Or, are you like my siblings in that you fail to _appreciate_ my humor? Hahahaha! Rest assured, by the time our conversation has reached its conclusion, you will see that I am not mad. In fact, you'll see that I'm far from it! Quite the opposite, I've been endowed with a type of super sanity so to speak that the average person couldn't dream of comprehending! I am not the one who's mad, that distinction falls on everyone else! I have it all figured it! I know the truth! The truth that life is all just one big joke and that the best thing you can do is throw your head back and laugh! Well, either that, or get in on the joke! The number of people I've tried to enlighten with this fact I've lost count. I don't let it get me down though, I just take it as a sign to keep trying! Anyway, let's move on!

A certain clown once said that all it took was one bad day to drive anyone to insanity. Personally, I think he had it all wrong. All it takes is one bad day to open anyone's eyes. To help them see the hilarity in every misfortune. One bad day is all it takes for a person to learn how to put the laughter in slaughter. Although then again, in my case, it was one bad week rather than just one bad day. One week of slowly wasting away with my body too sick to even move as I watched seemingly everyone I know keep knock, knock, knockin' on Heaven's Door. (Shout out to my sister, Luna for getting that song stuck in my head, hahaha!) It's amazing how when one's entire perspective on life can change when they're practically French kissing death. Gives one an entirely new spin on things! Takes away your sense of fear, renews your sense of humor, teaches you how to turn every loss into a new gift. Mothers, fathers, boyfriends, and even your goth gfs, they all come and go. Comedy will _never_ leave your side.

Would you like to hear a story? Don't worry, this story is filled with plenty of laughs. By the end of it, I guarantee that I'll have turned that frown of yours upside down! What's that, you seem hesitant, almost afraid. Don't be scared, I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to help you. I want to make you smile, maybe bring you some cheers! I know you could probably use it after hearing my siblings' dreary, serious, and personally boring recollection of events. What's wrong? You seem surprised? You don't think you're the only one who can read, do you? I say we _turn the page _on their stories and _tell tales _that have _heart_! HAHAHAHA! Get it? So what do you say? Why don't you grab yourself a glass of milk, take a seat, and let Auntie Joker tell you story that has everything!? A fine mixture of action, comedy, suspense and an ending you're sure not to see coming.

Our story begins like most great stories do: on a dark and stormy night in a small loveable town. Now, I know my siblings have you used to hearing events from their eyes, but rather than be selfish and hog the limelight like them, I figured I'd shine the spotlight on a local bonehead named Eric and let him be the central focus. Well, at least for now. Let's start with a little backstory. Now, you see, Eric was your typical jock athlete, being boastful, boisterous, and none too bright. He had a habit of stringing girls along, using them to do his homework for him and dumping them like they were worthless. Pretty despicable, huh? Trust me, by the end of this tale, you'll feel no sympathy for this jerk. I'd had my eyes on Eric for a while now as my aforementioned goth gf- What's that? What's her name, you ask? Her name was Maggie and while she wasn't actually my girlfriend (I was happily taken by a fellow comedian named Benny. You could say our relationship was _molto benny_ HAHAHAHA!), she was still a close friend even if she could rival my sister in how dark and brooding she could be. Anyway, Maggie was one of the girls he'd taken advantage of and he wasn't too remorseful about that fact.

Like almost all jocks, Eric had an inflated opinion of himself. Thought of himself as irresistible and considered himself the hero of every story. Little did he know that he was about to find himself in quite the _cape_r. Man, I seriously slay myself with these jokes. Admit it, you find my puns hilarious too, and even if you don't, by the end of this you'll have a better appreciation for them. Getting back to the story, guys like Eric were so easy to fool. Give em' a wink and a smile and they'll follow you until they were six feet deep and in a _grave _situation. Before you get any ideas, no, I did not flirt with Eric to get his attention. The fact that he made me wanna vomit was the first thing that prevented me from taking that approach. The second thing keeping me from taking that approach was the fact that I had kinda sorta gained a bit of notoriety to the point where wanted posters of my face were plastered all over Royal Woods.

Now, where were we? Oh, right, with Eric walking home on a dark and stormy night. Given the weather conditions along with the fact that it was pretty late at night meant that there was nobody else occupying the streets. Eric was all on his own. Of course, for a "macho man" like him, walking the streets alone was no issue, if anything it only proved how tough he was. Normally, I'd hate to _rain on anyone's parade_, but in this case I felt he had it coming. It all started with a simple scream, a bloodcurdling scream coming from the alleyway that would catch anyone's attention.

"Someone please, help me!" I cried out, playing the role of a damsel in distress to perfection.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" Eric said, running into the alleyway to rush to my aid. He found me sitting on the ground, curled up in the corner like any scared little girl. "Looks like I came just in time. Who attacked you? Where did they go?"

"Th-That way," I stuttered, pointing behind him. Naturally, the idiot turned around to see where I was pointing, foolishly turning his back on me. Then again, even if he kept his eyes on me, he wouldn't be able to see the invisible mallet I was pulling out.

Come again? Oh, you're confused by the invisible mallet? Well, I suppose this is the part where I explain to you, the reader, what my powers are. While I didn't get the super strength or speed or psychic powers like some of my siblings, I'd say I still got a pretty useful power. The power to render not only myself invisible, but also any object I desired with but a touch. My brother called it "Achtung Baby" after some invisible baby in one of his favorite mangas. Okay, are you all caught up? Know what I can do now? You do, good! Let's continue!

"Don't worry, if they come back, I'll make sure they feel the- oof!" Eric boasted before I whacked him on the back of his head with my hammer. That was one hit _he didn't see coming_. I guess I just felt the need to _hammer the point into his head_ about the danger of talking to strangers. I almost felt bad about how easy it had been to fool him. It felt as if I were picking on the slow kid. I quickly got over it though.

"Man, Mrs. J, you'd think these peeps would be more careful and stay on guard when there's someone like you on the loose," Mr. Coconuts said to me.

"Oh, cut them some slack, Mr. Coconuts," I said. "They're dealing with so much as it is, what with the virus and Beast Girl and the jewel thieves. They're bound to slip up at some point,"

"We might wanna get moving quick," Mr. Coconuts advised me. "The fuzz will be here before you know it and I don't know about you, Mrs. J, but spending a night in the slammer doesn't sound ideal to me."

"Oh how right you are, my little harlequin" I agreed with him, taking one last look at our unconscious guest.

Some time later, Eric slowly started to stir before finally waking up. Thank goodness for that as I was worried I had maybe hit him over the head a little _too _hard, heheh. Didn't want to actually kill him before the fun could start if you know what I mean. Anyway, taking a look around, Eric quickly found himself in a seemingly normal room. The room was well furnished with a king sized bed, a chair, a mini fridge and a TV for entertainment if he grew bored. There was even a bathroom in the event that he needed to relieve himself. I figured since I had kidnapped him, that I may as well extend some courtesy to him in exchange. The first thing Eric did upon fully awakening from his slumber was grab at his head before slowly staggering to his feet. Watching from my secret room, I could only wonder what was going through his head. Was he angry at the fact that he had been tricked? Was he scared for his life and close to soiling himself from fear?

"What the heck happened?" Eric asked himself in a surprisingly calm voice as he struggled to stay on his feet. "Where am I? Did I get mugged? Last thing I remember is… that girl."

While his initial reaction was disappointing, I kept watching, hoping the fear would kick in. Mostly, I just wanted to see the look of abject terror on his face when he realized just how much trouble he was in. That look of fear, no matter who it was coming from, man, woman, young or old is always priceless. Now one thing I neglected to tell you was that I had purposely left the lights turned off so as not to give away the various surprises I had hidden in the room. Eric stumbled around the room, desperately searching for the lightswitch. Of course, when he finally found it, he wasted no time turning the lights on, only to let out a shout and pull back his hand in pain.

"Son of a-! Something just bit me," said Captain Obvious before taking a closer look at the lightswitch and noticing a beehive hanging just above it. "Whose sick idea of a joke was this!?"

"Ah, ah, ah, if I were you, I'd _bee_-have myself and not dish out such _stinging_ insults," I made myself known, watching as the jerk looked around trying to find the source of the voice.

"Who said that?" Eric asked in a panicky voice, looking around frantically before calming down. "Calm down, Eric. That was probably nothing, you likely were just hearing things, it's no big deal." I notice the strange side glance you're giving me and trust me, I'm just as confused as to how he could reach that conclusion as you are. For my part, I figured I'd play along with him and leave him to his own silence. "Still, what kind of sick person puts a beehive next to a lightswitch?"

Shaking his head, Eric walked over to the chair to take a seat, where he received his next surprise. As he sat down, the chair suddenly collapsed underneath him, splintering into about a dozen jagged pieces. One of the remnants of the chair proved so sharp that it ended up piercing his left leg, making him scream like a girl. I'm telling you, it was absolutely hilarious. I swear, if you looked close enough, you could see straight to the bone. Pfft, come on, don't give me that look. I think I was being pretty _chair-_itable by offering him a seat. It's not my fault he broke it with his large bottom. Plus, if you're getting squeamish with me now, I don't know how you're going to make it through the rest of the story. After letting out a few expletives that I can't exactly repeat in this PG-13 story, Eric actually impressed me by ripping the chair piece from his leg and wrapping up his leg with athletic tape. (Don't ask me where he got athletic tape from, I assume all meatheads carry it around with them).

Following that, Eric limped over to the bed and flopped down onto it, _springing_ my next trap, literally. The metal coil springs that made up the mattress burst from the mattress, taking Eric by surprise and causing him to instinctively start struggling. His panic only caused him to become entangled within the coils. Finally, the bonehead calmed down long enough to semi- free himself from the clutches of the bed, although he was still rather wrapped up in the springs. Wanting to mess with him a little, I turned on the TV, switching to the channel to a sitcom. Now, you might assume that I did this to distract him or otherwise divert his attention elsewhere. Au contraire, dear reader, I did this specifically to warn him and give him a chance to save himself. The illumination of the TV screen gave him a better view of the room and allowed him to spot the conspicuously placed switch that had been placed on the floor in the middle of the room. A switch that seemingly hadn't been there before he'd gotten entangled in the bed.

Now, any normal person would've simply ignored this switch, focused on completely freeing themselves and made their way to the exit. Not Eric however. In all of his infinite wisdom, Eric for some reason decided to flip the switch. Eric got the _shock_ of his life as the switch was connected directly to a hidden electric generator that had been hidden beneath the bed. When the switch was flipped, the generator sent a jolt of electricity coursing straight through the coils he'd entangled himself in. Luckily for him, I had set up that particular trap to administer a non lethal shock so he survived. Poor chap would have to be more careful in the future if he wanted to keep breathing.

"That bed? Was that supposed to happen?" He asked himself upon recovering and ripping the springs from his body. Eric made his way to the bathroom and turned on the faucet, presumably looking to wash his face in order to calm himself down. What he got instead was another surprise courtesy of yours truly when the sink pumped not water, but hydrochloric acid, burning his hand and causing him to hiss in pain. "You've gotta be kidding me!" Clutching his hand, Eric retreated from the bathroom and started to freak out. "All of these occurrences can't be coincidence! That chair was rigged, so was the bed and now the bathroom too! Anything in here could be a trap! This isn't a room, this is an execution chamber!"

"Now, now, that seems a bit harsh, don't you think?" I chimed in yet again with a cheerful cackle.

"Where are you!?" Eric shouted. "Get out here and show yourself, you freak! Why did you bring me here!?" He asked, clearly afraid before trying to hide his fear by saying "You know, honey, if you wanted to go out on a date with me, all you had to do was ask!"

I almost threw up in my mouth hearing those words. If that was his idea of a joke, it wasn't a very funny one. To think that people said _my _jokes were bad. I was half tempted to march down there and introduce him to my friend Tommy for that remark alone. Then I remembered that I wanted to have some fun with this guy so I kept a cool head and told Eric "Don't flatter yourself. I simply brought you because I wanted to share with you the gift of laughter! You know, maybe give you small chuckle before you leave this world."

"Is this supposed to be some sort of joke!?" Eric asked. Boy was starting to catch on quick. Still, he couldn't help but keep up the false bravado. I'd take great pleasure in reducing him to the sniveling, cowardly crybaby he was. For right now though, I figured I'd humor him. "The only thing that's making me laugh is the fact that you think you can scare me! When I get out of here, I'm gonna-"

"Sounds great, but you might wanna focus on getting out of that room first" I advised him, giggling and saying "That is, unless you want to stand around and make idle threats,"

"Oh, I'll show you idle threats," Eric said as he headed for the door. Gently turning the handle, he wasn't expecting it to fall off and onto the ground. He also wasn't expecting for there to be a thin thread of string tied to the detached door handle that revealed a small pin at the end of said string. Eyes widening in horror, Eric barely managed to jump to the other side of the room in time and hit the deck before the grenade on the other side of the door went off, sending shrapnel flying everywhere.

"In the future, I'd a-_door_ it if you kept your _explosive_ temper in check," I told him with a giggle before leaving him in silence once again. I turned to my jovial partner, Mr. Coconuts and asked him "So, do you think he'll last longer than our previous guests?"

"I give him 11 minutes before his time runs out" Mr. Coconuts joked.

The explosion had blown open the doorway, giving out guest a clear view of what awaited him on the outside. I bet that he'd been expecting to find himself in some hotel on the outskirts of town rather than at an abandoned carnival. Man, if I had a picture of the confused look Eric had on his face, it'd be worth more than the author's words can describe. Given how hotheaded he'd been up until this point, I half expected Eric to make a mad dash for the exit and for a split second, that's what it looked like he was going to do. However, after being on the receiving end of 3 of my traps, the bonehead wisened up and approached the opening with caution. Taking as close of a look as he could, Eric noticed a thin tripwire set up where the door used to be. Looking up, he spotted a makeshift guillotine awaiting any unattentive victim. With great caution, he tiptoed over the tripwire and carefully made his way outside.

"I suppose I should commend you for not getting _a head _of yourself," I laughed, speaking to him over the carnival's PA. "Don't celebrate prematurely however. You're not quite out of the woods yet"

"This isn't funny!" Eric shouted, tears starting to form in his eyes. Boy, that false bravado didn't last long, did it? "I could've been killed!"

"Quit your whining, you're still alive, aren't you?" I replied. "Now do you wanna get out of here or are you just going to stand around crying like a baby?" Eric nodded and I told him "Then what are you waiting for? Get moving! Find which path leads to the exit! Word of advice though, try not to rely too heavily on your eyes!"

"Why are you telling me all this?" Eric asked. "Why bother helping me if you just brought me here to kill me?"

"If I'm being honest, I don't expect you to make it out of here alive," I answered truthfully. "But, watching this should be pretty funny so if you bite the dust, maybe I'll get the chance to _die laughing_. HAHAHAHA!"

"I'll show you!" Eric declared before storming off to find his way out. If he were wise, he would've simply followed the arrow signs I had set up that would've put him on the safest path to the exit by taking him through the petting zoo. I guess he had learned not to trust me as he went in the exact opposite direction of the signs and walking straight into the maze of mirrors. Couldn't say I blamed him for not trusting me, but by going in the opposite direction, he had sealed his fate. "Ha! You think I'm dumb enough to fall for any more of your tricks? I've caught onto your games, clown!"

As you'll soon see, he couldn't be any further from the truth. Eric looked up & down & all around for any hidden tripwires, but would find none as he stepped into the maze of mirrors. I allowed him to get a good look at his surroundings before I dimmed the lights to the attraction, causing him to jump in fright. Surely he didn't expect me to make it that easy for him, did he? Hey, I told him not to trust his eyes; it would've done him well to memorize his surroundings in the brief time he had before I turned out the lights. Alas, he hadn't and now he was left _fumbling in the dark_. Without any light to guide him, Eric resorted for reaching out towards the wall of the maze so that he could navigate his way through it by touch. A smart strategy… or at least it would've been if I hadn't lined the walls with barbed wire and broken glass, which I then rendered invisible with my powers. Eric gasped and hissed in pain as his arm got entangled by barbed wire and was cut up as a result.

"Are you… are you kidding me?" Eric cried. "What even cut me? The mirrors didn't seem broken or jagged or anything so what the heck cut me?"

Watching from our hiding place, Mr. Coconuts asked me "So should you tell him or should I?". I thought for a second before replying "Nah, let's just keep quiet, see if he can figure it out on his own"

Deciding to throw the dog a bone, I turned the lights back on for a couple of seconds so that he could have another look around. Of course, Eric was more preoccupied with the cuts he sustained and took a quick glance down at his arm. I guess Eric was the kind of person who couldn't stand the sight of blood because at the first sight of blood running down his arm like a river, he freaked out, screaming like a little girl. Let me tell you, it was _bloody _hilarious. Eventually Eric calmed down enough to get ahold of himself and get his head back in the game. He took advantage of the lights being on long enough to make it further through the maze, running as fast as he could before I turned the lights back off. As a result, he ran face first into a mesh of barbed wire and glass, cutting up his (at least in his own mind) pretty little face. He wouldn't be picking up any girls any time soon with that face. He should consider himself he didn't accidentally gouge one of his eyes out.

"You know, running around in a maze where you know the walls are lined with traps doesn't seem like a smart idea, but hey, you do you," I teased him.

"My face! You ruined it! You crazy chick!" Eric shouted, writhing on the ground in pain.

"Actually, I'd say it's an improvement," I replied. "Now it's just as ugly as you are on the inside" Can you tell that I don't like this guy? With all my other victims, I'd probably play a few games with them, hit 'em with the Smylex and be done with it (quit shaking in your boots, you're safe. I already told you I wasn't going to lay a hand on you. After all, if I kill you, then who'll be left to read the story?). With this guy, however… eugh, I just wanted to see him suffer. I wanted to put him through the ringer so to speak. "Now get up and keep moving, it's time for you to _face_ the music!"

Knowing that this was a do or die situation, Eric got to his feet and continued stumbling through the mirror maze. Just to further mess with him, I'd turn the lights on and off at random intervals. As you can imagine, Eric wound up getting quite cut up as he continued struggling, trying to find his way out. At every turn, he'd wind up getting snagged by barbed wire or knicked by glass shards and in those moments, the only thing I could think of was "Darnit, I should've added razor blades to the walls too"! That would've made for an even more _cutting edge _trap. Somehow, through the mercy of some deity, Eric made it through the maze still alive. Even more amazingly, aside from the major gash in his arm and cut across his face, he made it out without much injury. Now granted, his clothes were tattered and he had cuts all over his torso, but it was nothing he couldn't soldier through. After surviving that gauntlet, Eric took a moment to tend to his wounds.

"Well, well, well, you made it out of the mirror maze?" I taunted over the PA. "Impressive, maybe you should take some time to _reflect_ on everything you've done and how you made it here in the first place."

Mr. Coconuts chimed in, saying "Do you think he took time to look at the _man in the mirror_ and realize it's time to change his ways?"

"What kind of sadist are you!?" He screamed at the top of his lungs, becoming increasingly desperate.

"I warned you not to trust your eyes," I taunted him. "Don't tell me you're going to give up already. And here I thought you could last longer than that."

"I'm not giving up," Eric muttered to himself. "I've got to get out of here. Gotta just keep moving. Please"

Limping along (bet you forgot about the chair stabbing his leg from earlier, didn't you), Eric found himself standing in front of a more musical attraction. A giant piano made up the floor and hanging on the walls were multiple musical instruments such as trumpets, flutes, clarinets, heck, there was even a triangle hanging on the wall. Justifiably paranoid, Eric felt around, trying to see if I had rigged this area with invisible traps too. Nope, no barbed wire here, but there were plenty of other surprises in store for him, the first of which he discovered when he tiptoed onto one of the piano keys and a firecracker went off underneath his foot.

"Son of a-" He exclaimed, panicking like a little baby even though the firecracker hadn't even scorched his sneakers.

In his panicked state, he lost his footing and reached out for the instruments lining the wall for support. Eric ended up yanking on the triangle, causing the key he was standing on to catapult him into the opposite wall where through sheer luck, he managed to avoid being impaled by a flute. I'll leave it up to you to interpret whether that was intentional on my part or a mere miscalculation. Either way, Eric hit the wall hard and had the wind knocked out of him; he might have also dislocated his shoulder in the impact as well. I'll give credit where credit is due, he didn't let that stop him as he got up as quick as he could and took one look at the long hall ahead of him. Having been stabbed through the leg, nearly electrocuted, burned by acid, getting mangled by barbed wire and glass, having his pretty looks ruined, and just now having his shoulder dislocated with a possible broken rib, I bet Eric thought that it couldn't possibly get any worse.

Oh, how wrong he was. I had saved my most torturous form of punishment until now. Grabbing onto a trumpet in order to pull himself up, Eric ended up activating a jukebox. A jukebox rigged to play nothing but nonstop K-pop. K-pop that was blaring at the loudest possible volume imaginable. I gave the poor sod 3 minutes before he tried tearing his own ears off. (I would've rigged the jukebox to play Hozier's _Take Me To Church_ on loop as my sister, Lynn, hates that song _religiously_. The only problem is that I hate that song too and putting it on loop would've required me to have to listen to it as I watched my victim stumble his way out of this room).

The K-pop worked as intended as Eric immediately dropped to his knees and screamed "Okay, that's just not fair! For the love of all things sacred, turn this trash off! Stop it! Stop it! Please, I beg you!"

"Tell me Mr. Coconuts, should I show him mercy or watch him squirm some more?" I asked my faithful assistant.

"You want my opinion? _K. Pop_ off on him, I say" Mr. Coconuts replied.

"An excellent response" I said with a smile. My only regret was that I couldn't turn the music up even _louder_ to drive him even crazier.

Filled with adrenaline, Eric ignored the pain in his leg and sprinted as fast as he could towards the end of the hall. In the process, he triggered even more traps, including a few more firecrackers that scorched his feet and sent shrapnel flying into his legs. Staggering, he reached out and grabbed hold of a saxophone, setting off yet another trap in the form of pepper spray to the face. Now he was blinded and being subjected to the horrors of K-pop. Part of me wondered if maybe I was going too far before I shrugged it off. Even if I had crossed the line, this was just too funny to stop now. Unable to see, but willing to do anything to escape the dreadful 'music', Eric put one foot in front of the other, slowly but surely making his way to the exit. Just when he was inches away from the exit, I pressed a simple button that caused the doors to slam shut in front of him. Gee, ain't I a stinker?

"No, no, No, No. No. No! NO. NO! NO!" Eric cried, pounding helplessly on the door. "Let me out of here, I beg you! This is just mean!"

"Man, you sure are _singing a different tune_ compared to earlier," I said with a hearty laugh.

Desperate to escape, Eric began ramming his shoulder into the doors, trying to break them down. No matter how strong he was, there was no way he could break through those solid wooden doors. At least, not with his bare hands. Getting a clue, Eric pulled a tuba from off the wall and began bashing the doors with it. It took some time, but eventually he managed to form a crack in the door. Encouraged and filled with a new sense of hope, he continued hitting the doors as hard as he could, putting some major dents in the tuba in the process. Well, that's just great, there goes my deposit on that instrument. My wasted money aside, Eric finally broke through the door and escaped my music hall. The first thing the big crybaby did upon breaking free was drop to his knees and kiss the ground. How melodramatic could you get?

The last obstacle standing in the way of Eric and freedom was a bumper car rink. All he had to do was make it across the floor and he'd be free to go. The pale moonlight illuminated the path before him and served to give the jock an even greater sense of hope. After all he'd been through, he looked as if he'd been in the middle of a warzone, being bloodied and battered. Throwing caution to the wind, Eric ran as fast as his injured legs could carry him and leapt the barrier into the bumper car rink. I swear I could see his heart almost jump out of his chest when he heard a mechanical voice say "Look over here!". (You know, having an otaku for a brother sometimes pays off in that the manga they read can give you some killer ideas. HAHAHA!)

Turning his head in fear, Eric's eyes widened in horror when he saw the bumper cars suddenly spring to life and begin coming towards him. With the adrenaline rush from earlier having died down, he couldn't ignore his injuries and run as he had done previously. Making matters even worse was the fact that the bumper cars had bayonets attached to the front of them, ready to skewer any unfortunate soul caught in their path. Fortunately for Eric, while he wasn't fast enough to outrun the machines, he was still quick enough to I'm sure by now you've figured out that the bumper cars were being remote controlled by a rather merry jester in the form of Mr. Coconuts.

"Come on, Mr. Coconuts, give me the controller, Mom says it's my turn on the Xbox," I jokingly whined, playfully tugging at the controller.

"Gimme a minute, Mrs. J," Mr. Coconuts replied. "I've just reached the last boss. I'm this close to beating the game!"

"You've been on this boss for the past 3 hours!" I whined, only for Mr. Coconuts to point out "It's only been 2 minutes." to which I replied "And you still haven't killed him! Man, you suck at this game!"

All the while, poor Eric was in the fight of his life, leaping out of the way of the deadly bumper cars nearly every other second. He could see the way out in the distance, almost taunting him and he was determined to survive by any means necessary. After narrowly avoiding being impaled by a bayonet, Eric spotted a bumper car approaching him from the rear. It was too close for him to successfully dodged, which meant the end was seemingly in sight. The brat surprised me by leaping over the bayonet and jumping into the driver's seat. From there he took control of the car, using it to ram the other bumper cars out of his way.

"See? I told you you sucked at this game!" I chastised Mr. Coconuts. "Now look at what you've done. You've given him a chance to escape!"

"Don't blame me!" Mr. Coconuts defended himself. "I would've had him if you hadn't distracted me!", prompting me to reply with a "Whatever"

Meanwhile, Eric aimed towards the other side of the rink and floored the accelerator, driving full speed towards the wall. Crashing into the wall, he used the momentum to propel himself up and over the barrier separating him from freedom. Spotting the exit only a few meters away, Eric took a second to breathe a sigh of relief and pat himself on the back. After everything he'd endured, it seemed he'd finally escaped. Oh my gamikai, you should've seen the absolute look of sorrow, confusion and pants wetting fear on his face when I made myself visible, revealing myself to be standing directly in front of him aiming a gun in his face.

"I've gotta hand it to you, you made it pretty far," I taunted him, relishing as cold sweat ran down his face. "But if I had to _take a shot in the dark_, I'd say that this is where your story ends"

"C'mon, please just let me out of here," Eric begged, tears coming from his eyes. "I've been through a lot tonight"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that," I told him before pulling the trigger, only for a red "POP" flag to emerge from the barrel. "Just kidding" I said before breaking out into laughter.

I don't know if he was genuinely relieved or if his sanity had been broken because Eric proceeded to join me in laughing. After a few seconds of laughing, I pointed the gun at his chest and before Eric even had time to react, I pulled the trigger a second time, firing the "POP" flag straight through his heart. Oh come on, don't tell me you seriously didn't see that coming! You didn't actually expect me to let that diseased mound of hyena filth live, did you?

"Oops, no I wasn't" I said with a smile before leaning down to take a good look at his corpse. His body was just missing one last thing that would make it perfect. As I mentioned before, with most of my other victims, I just infected them with a little laugh gas and watched as their faces contorted into a beautiful smile. Since I didn't extend Eric the same courtesy, I was forced to get a little gritty. Pulling out a switchblade, I carved a wonderfully wide cheshire cat glasgow grin into his face. Now, he was perfect. Now all that was left was to put him on display.

Just as I was finishing up on displaying my latest victim, I received a notification from my phone. Pulling it out, I took a glance at the security cam footage to see what was going on. Much to my joy, it appeared that I had another visitor and a familiar one at that. It seemed that my little brother had swung by to pay me a visit, how sweet of him. I hate to cut things short, but I've got to go greet him! We have so much catching up to do, HAHAHAHAHA! Don't worry though, this won't be the last time you hear from me! Sayonara!

END ISSUE 6

**Little fun fact: Luan's superpower isn't strictly limited to invisibility. She's actually far more powerful than she appears. You'll see just how much more powerful in the future.**


	7. Issue 7: Into the Lion’s Den

I think it goes without saying that growing up with 11 other siblings isn't exactly boring. Whether we were watching a movie together, visiting the mall, or playing games together, there was never a dull moment. That's not to say that everything was sunshine and rainbows however. Let me tell you, there were times when my siblings and I drove each other crazy. Between my older sisters asserting their authority to my younger sisters annoying me to my twin getting me involved with his schemes, there were plenty of arguments between us. Such as the time when Lincoln humiliated us all by recording us during our most embarrassing moments. Or when Lucy and Lynn couldn't stand each other to the point where Lynn I had to switch rooms for a week. Look at me, talking as if I'm completely innocent and never started my fair share of arguments. Like that one time where I "borrowed" Leni's lipstick and let Lola take the fall for it. Lola wasn't too happy when she found out about that. Then there was the time I fooled my sister Lori into thinking I had sneaked out of the house while she was babysitting, tricking all of my siblings into leaving the house to go looking for me, just so that I could watch my favorite TV show without being interrupted. Man, I really paid the price on both of those occasions, haha! No matter how much we got on each other's nerves however, I can confidently say without doubt that we were tighter than any other family on the planet. Heh, I'd give anything in the world to be able to go back to the way things were, arguments and all. At least back then, our fights were more juvenile and carefree compared to now where we were actively out for each other's blood. Alas, to wish for such a thing was nothing more than a fool's fantasy. My family had been irreparably torn apart and going off the way things were going right now, it doesn't seem like that would be changing any time soon.

That was what led me to where I was currently: standing outside the entrance of an abandoned amusement park, hoping that I could get a hold of one sister before another sister offed her. Yare yare daze, it still seemed like the world was playing some sick joke on me. If that were the case then it seemed even more fitting that I was the one tasked with capturing Luan, especially considering our history. As I stood outside the entrance, contemplating just how I was going to go about this, I couldn't help but let out a humorless chuckle. I had this feeling in my gut that this was not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. After all, it had taken me two days to even find this place and it wasn't even the first place I had started my search. The first place I had scoped out had been the old comedy club, The Chortle Portal, but that had been a bust. The second place I looked had been the fake hotel that Luan had used during one of her April Fools crusades. Revisiting that place certainly brought back memories. Even after finding this park, I still wasn't sure if Luan was hiding here. I guess the only way to find out way to step inside.

The rain was pouring down in buckets, as if every angel over heaven had decided to simultaneously look down and take a pee. If mom were still alive, she'd scold me for being out in the rain without an umbrella, telling me that I could get sick from that. If someone as weak-willed as me could survive the virus, then a little cold from being out in the rain couldn't hurt. That virus had taken so much from me: my mom, my dad, my family bonds, and the only friend I ever had. All of this would be so much easier if Kat were still here with me. I missed that girl so much with each passing day. Losing her made me feel even more alone in this world than I already was. Man, listen to me ramble on and whine about what could've been. I guess anything to distract me from the task at hand.

Two Days Prior

"_So Lisa plans on coming after all of us, huh?" Lynn asked me after I had just relayed to her and Lincoln what Lana had told me. "I can understand wanting to come after me Linc after we ruined her plans, but you're seriously telling me she's coming after you first? No offense, bro, but you're about as threatening as a bottle of raspberry schnapps."_

_"Apparently, it has something to do with my healing/restoration abilities," I told her. "She thinks that they might be potent enough to cure the virus, which threatens her own plans to develop a cure that can brainwash people. If I'm being frank, I'm more concerned with her plans for our other sisters. Regardless of their alignment, even if they've never so much as glanced in her direction, she plans on kidnapping everyone from Lori to presumably even Lily. Well, all except for one…"_

_"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked me._

_"Well, Lisa plans on outright killing Luan," I revealed. "Says she's too dangerous and unpredictable"_

_"Okay, now you're pulling my leg," Lynn said in disbelief. "I know Lisa's gone slightly mad, but she doesn't actually plan on killing Luan does she? There's no way she'd stoop that low."_

_"That's what Lana told me," I replied. "And considering the fact that Lisa almost killed her in cold blood, right now I wouldn't put it past her."_

_"Aww man, what are we going to do?" Lynn asked, seeming just as distraught with how messed up this whole situation was as I was._

_"Isn't it obvious?" Lincoln replied. "We're going to find our sisters, warn them of what Lisa's planning and if possible, convince them to come with us and save them. We can better our chances of saving them if we all split up and go after a different sister."_

_"That's a great idea," I told him before suggesting. "Since the two of you were roommates, I think you, Lynn, should look for Lucy. That leaves you, Lincoln, to search for Leni and I'll look for Lori. The only question is: who should go after Luan?" I wasn't surprised in the slightest when Lincoln and Lynn both pointed at me, but that didn't stop me from asking "Come again?"_

_"Oh come on, bro, who else do you expect to go after her?" Lynn replied. "You always were her morality pet whenever she went prank crazy. While I doubt it's possible, if anyone has the best chance of getting through to her and possibly convincing her to peacefully surrender, it's you!"_

_"Yeah, but in the event that talking to her fails, I don't have much to defend myself with," I pointed out._

_"Yet you want to go after Lori, who could literally flame broil you if you ticked her off?" Lincoln pointed out, prompting me to reply with "You make a compelling argument. Alright, I'll go after Luan. Finding her shouldn't be too difficult of a task I hope." _

_Lynn teased me, saying "No matter what happens, just make sure you don't turn traitor and act as her accomplice again"_

_"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?" I asked, before giving a smirk and fading away into the shadows._

End flashback

There was no turning back now. As far as I was concerned, failure was not an option. As a took my first steps towards the amusement park, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. Then again, that likely had something to do with the clearly visible security camera hanging overhead. Luan most likely knew I was already here, but was refraining from acknowledging my presence for whatever reason. With every step I took, the clearer it became that maybe I had been the right choice to take on Luan. My shadow powers allowed me to hide practically anywhere, allowing me to become invisible in my own sense and acting as the perfect counter to her own cloaking abilities. I must say, Luan couldn't have picked a creepier place to act as her hideout. Not only did it look like a set out of a horror movie, it had an ominous Silent Hill esque atmosphere to it.

Naturally, that meant that there were plenty of dark, shadowy corners for me to hide in. With the number of dark crevices there were, it almost tipped the scales completely in my favor. It meant that I could attack from all angles and that even though my attacks weren't the strongest, I could make the most of them by striking at precise moments. Of course, that's not to say I hadn't also come with a few tricks up my sleeve. That didn't stop me from feeling unnerved however.

If she really were hiding here, she could always land a sneak attack on me by silently creeping up from behind. For all I knew, she could be right behind me as I spoke. I kept my ears open, listening carefully to try and make out any noise that felt out of place. Aside from the pounding rain and my own footsteps however, there was nothing but an eerie silence.

With how many attractions there were, I was starting to wonder where I should look first. Perhaps, it would be best if I tried my luck looking through the maze of mirrors as something told me someone had been through there recently. Then again, something else told me that that might not be the best idea since an abundance of reflective surfaces meant fewer, if any, shadows to disguise myself with. The most obvious place to look would be the big top circus tent, but it seemed almost too obvious. Like a red herring meant to throw any pursuers off. There was also the haunted hotel attraction that could be a hiding place, but it was likely heavily booby trapped, making it a danger to venture through.

The wax figure museum was likely the same as well. Then there was the It's A Small World After All ride. Its tunnels were just well lit enough to ensure that there were plenty of shadows to duck into and at the end of it, took you over a bridge overlooking a river far below. So many choices, with nary a clear indicator as to which one was the correct one. I braced myself for another long, fruitless search when the PA system suddenly came to life and I heard my sister's cheery voice echo throughout the park.

"Hello one and all, I see we have a very special visitor with us today in the form of my darling little brother!" She said, making it clear that she knew I was here and allowing me to know that I indeed likely was being watched. "We're so glad you could join us tonight! Please accept our complimentary offer to take you for a _ride_! You have our assurance that the thrills we provide will be to _die_ for! It's just as much for our _amusement_ as yours! HAHAHAHA! Get it?"

"Listen, Luan, I don't want any trouble," I said, looking up directly into one of the security cameras. "I'm here to try and help you, I just need you to come with me, please."

"Awww, would you look at that?" Luan mockingly cooed. "Little Lio wants to help his big sister just like old times, isn't that sweet of him?"

"Sorry, kid, but right now I'm your sister doesn't need any more Harley Quinns, I'm all the help she needs," Mr. Coconuts said. "And I may be a wooden marionette, but I'm no dummy so don't try any funny business."

"Yeah, because funny business is our game," Luan said with a laugh. "Besides, you mentioned coming with you, but I've already done my hunting for the night! I'm not going anywhere."

"Luan, this is serious!" I told her. "Right now as we speak, Lisa is trying to track you down and kill you! I'm trying to get you somewhere safe before that happens!"

"Somewhere safe like where?" Luan replied. "I already know what you're thinking. You're trying to get me to come along with you so that you can lock me away in some asylum, right? Well, guess what? I may be crazy, but that idea is just insane! I'll gladly take my chances out here than be put in a straitjacket and locked in a cell like some animal! Besides, it's not as if old chrome dome knows where I am!

"Not now maybe, but if I could track you down, you know it's only a matter of time before she does the same," I answered back. I knew that this wasn't going to be an easy task, but I was hoping that I could avoid a physical confrontation with her. Guess that just wasn't in the cards.

"If Lisa is bold enough to come at me, I'll be ready for her," Luan said with Mr Coconuts adding "The only thing we have to worry about is you being a blabbermouth and telling her where we are!".

Luan laughed and mocked me by saying "Ah, come on Mr. Coconuts. You know that he would never betray his oneechan; isn't that right, Lio?" Even though I couldn't see her, I could just tell she had a shit-eating grin on her face when she said that.

"I still think we should probably take him out, just to be on the safe side, Mrs. J" Mr. Coconuts said.

"I'm not leaving without you!" I shouted. "If you want to play games, then fine, but I am not letting you die, got that?"

"If that's how it's going to be, then I invite you to give it your best shot, little brother," Luan said. "But I won't be going down without a fight either."

The park fell silent after that, leaving me alone with my thoughts. Making a spur of the moment decision, I decided to start my search by looking in the big top circus tent. Hopefully, there weren't too many traps awaiting me there. As I approached the tent, I made sure to keep a constant lookout over my shoulder. When I got there, I could hear faint laughter on the other side. What I saw on the other side seemed like something straight out of a horror movie. The seats were filled with hundreds of people of all ages, all of them motionless with their faces contorted into horrific ear to ear smiles.

They didn't move or even blink, they simply stared straight ahead and down to where I was currently standing with their dull, lifeless eyes. All while canned cheering and laughter played on loop in the background. These people clearly weren't alive, but the question was: were they all some of Luan's victims or just really realistic looking dummies put here to scare people? I couldn't tell without getting closer and to be honest, I didn't want to get any closer. Not that I would get the chance to further inspect them before a knife whizzed past my head, just barely missing me.

"What the?" I exclaimed, turning around and seeing a clearly robotic clown standing on the other side of the tent, throwing knives at me.

"Try to look alive while you still can, kid," The robot clown said to me. "After all, I am the knife thrower and I want to make sure these people get their money's worth; and between you me, I don't think they'll be very happy if I don't take a serious stab at you"

"Yare yare daze, you've got to be kidding me," I sighed, dodging another knife from the killer robot clown. The robot clown threw three more knives at me, two of which I was able to dodge as well. The third knife however, didn't miss its mark, hitting me square in the center of my chest and knocking me on my back.

"Yes! I got him!" The robot clown celebrated, jumping for joy as I started thinking of a way to take him down without confronting him head on. Fortunately, since the single solitary source of light was a lone lightbulb hanging overhead, that meant there were plenty of dark places for me to hide in. I disappeared into the shadows, traveling through them until I was on the other side of the tent where the clown was standing. Without wasting any time, I kicked his leg out from under him, causing him to fall and be impaled by the many knives he was holding in his hand. He was still functional, but couldn't move aside from twitching randomly. "Aw shucks, looks like you got me. Still, it was knife to meet you."

I took a second to pat myself on the back for stuffing my jacket with magazines and old mediocre light novels as I took a look at the knife that had stabbed me, its blade deep in one of the light novels. If only he were real, then I could thank Jotaro Kujo for coming up with that idea. Never thought that it'd actually come in handy. I didn't have much time to appreciate that fact before having to duck back into the shadows when I heard a "BOOM" and spotted a cannonball coming towards me. No amount of magazine padding could stop a cannonball. A cacophony of explosions soon lit up my ears as I looked and saw two cannons firing at where I had been standing.

Maybe Luan actually was here given I couldn't see who had fired the cannons in the first place. With that in mind, I raced to the other side of the tent in my shadow form, meaning Luan wouldn't be able to see me coming. Much to my dismay however, Luan was nowhere to be found with the cannons being rigged to fire on their own. I quickly shut them down before exiting the tent as fast as possible.

"Well I guess you could consider that encounter _non cannon_" Luan joked over the PA system. "As a side note, perhaps I should invest in more lighting in that tent so that my hench clowns don't have to take a _stab in the dark _at you! HAHAHAHA! Get it?" I ignored her as I began walking to the wax museum next. "Geez, tough crowd, huh?"

The first thing I noticed when I entered the wax figure museum was a trail of blood on the floor. It was still reddish in color, meaning that not only was it somewhat fresh, but that someone had been here recently. The words "HA HA HA" were painted all over the walls in red, purple, and yellow paint while some of the wax figures of historical figures such as George Washington had been defaced, having crude smiles carved into their faces with their hair painted green and their faces were painted white. Other figures had been outright destroyed, being sawed in half or melted down until they resembled the Thing from the John Carpenter movie.

I was starting to wonder if Luan was really just Lucy in disguise as practically every inch of this park had a creepy atmosphere to it that would be right up the latter's alley. The disfigured wax figures ended up disturbing me so much that I used my restoration powers to restore them to their original forms. This place was dark and dusty and made me feel like something could pop out at me at any given moment.

Proceeding with caution, I tiptoed through the halls, hands balled tightly into fists, ready to punch anyone looking to catch me off guard. The wooden floors creaked and groaned underneath my feet, a sound that echoed throughout the building. That's when I heard it. A rhythmic dripping sound, like someone had left the faucet running and the water was now overflowing onto the floor. I kept my guard up as I rounded the corner, the dripping noise growing louder. When I reached the end of the hall, that's when I saw the cause of the dripping. The corpse of a young teenage boy, no older than 16, hanging from the ceiling.

Unlike the people in the tent, it was easy to tell that this dead body was the real deal. His clothes were ripped up and tattered, his arms and legs were covered in cuts, with his left leg looking like someone had torn a chunk out of it. His face was covered in lacerations and carved into the sides of his mouth was a crude smile. Sticking out of his chest was a razor sharp flag with blood seeping from the wound. The most terrifying thing however were his eyes as they were wide open, staring straight ahead and alongside that demented smile and the scars, made him look like a bloody demon. I actually jumped back upon seeing him and almost vomited at the sight. That's when Luan's voice echoed throughout the museum.

"I see you've ran into our most recent guest," She said. "As you can see, he went out with a smile. HAHAHAHAHA! In fact, it's not a stretch to say that he _died laughing_!"

"You're sick," I replied, disgusted. The girl I was speaking to couldn't possibly be my sister, I wouldn't accept it no matter what. This had to be some demon that had possessed her and driven her to do these horrific deeds. "How could you torture and kill people like this?"

"Oh come on, lighten up, will ya?" Luan replied. "People come and people go, they were going to die someday anyway, I was just speeding up the process! Don't you get it? We live and we die, that's our curse!" Before I had a chance to reply, Luan said, "I thought that you of all people would be able to understand the humor in this situation!"

"What do you-?" I started to ask before she cut me off.

"You should know first hand about loss!" She replied before going completely mental and shouting. "How someone can be here today and gone tomorrow and that there's nothing you can do about it! One day you lose your mom and the next, your dad! Lose your best friend from high school and your boyfriend too in a matter of days and all you can do is watch! I mean, isn't it just hysterical how life can screw with us while we're helpless to resist! It's the ultimate joke, a punchline you can't see coming! You lost the same things that I did: your parents and your girlfriend, so why can't you see the hilarity in it all!? The only thing you can really do is laugh in the face of it all so why aren't you laughing!?" She broke out into hysterical laughter that quickly devolved into crying. I was stunned speechless, not knowing how to process what was going on.

"Now look what you've done," Mr. Coconuts scolded me. "You made the clown cry, I hope you're happy with yourself" How Luan was speaking through him while crying her eyes out, I'll never understand.

"Listen Luan, I know exactly the feelings you're talking about," I told her. "I'd be lying if I said that I weren't tempted to just say "forget it" and go crazy myself. However, as much as I'd like to give in, I know that I can't do that. I still have too much to lose to just give in."

Luan started laughing maniacally yet again and asked me "And what would that be, my naive little brother?"

"The family that I still have," I answered sternly. "As long as I still have siblings that are alive, I can never give up hope!"

"Are you serious?" Luan asked. "I must say, Lio, this is kinda sad. Underneath the shadows and darkness, you're just a little boy crying out for his brother and sisters. It'd be funny if it weren't so pathetic." She paused before saying "Oh, what the heck, I'll laugh anyway… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Laugh all you want," I told her. "I'm not giving up on you and I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if that means having to fight you."

"You always were the stubborn one when it came to protecting your siblings," Luan said with a sigh. "I'll tell you what, since you're so eager to see me again, I'll give you a hint as to where I'm hiding. Something that even Leni would be able to decipher. Although then again, it still might take her over a Millennium to find and invade my World."

"Thanks for the tip," I said, leaving the wax museum and making my way towards the Millennium World, a futuristic world of tomorrow esque attraction that had the layout of a futuristic apartment complex.

I don't know why I didn't consider looking here sooner, but it didn't matter as I was ready to put an end to this. Anyway I walked through the door and slowly ascended the stairs to the top floor, passing by the animatronics and fake looking gadgets as I did so. I honestly had to scoff at how cartoony they looked; Lisa could come up with more impressive technology in her sleep. As I ascended the stairs, I could hear the faint sound of laughter. I followed the sound until I found which room it was coming from.

Opening the door, the first thing that greeted me was a hail of bullets fired from a tommy gun. I managed to blend in with the shadows on the wall just in time to dodge the gunfire as I looked over to see Luan and Mr. Coconuts sitting in a chair, with Mr. Coconuts holding the smoking gun.

"How nice that you could join us, Lio!" Luan said. "You'll have to forgive Mr. Coconuts as he seems to be triggered by your presence."

"Sorry, Mrs. J, it's just that I've been _gunning_ to take out this twerp since he got here," Mr. Coconuts said.

"Yare yare" I sighed, travelling through the shadows and emerging behind the two of them. Luan turned around and Mr. Coconuts looked ready to shoot before I kicked him out of Luan's hands and sent him flying into a robot maid animatronic. Luan retaliated by kicking me in the chest, knocking me backwards.

"You know, I was trying to be nice and spare you since you were my brother," Luan said before rolling up her sleeves and tauntingly saying "But if it's a whoopin you're a wanting…" She turned invisible and punched me in the stomach before grabbing me by my neck and slamming me up against a wall. "Rest assured, little brother, this hurts me more than it hurts you" She slammed me against the wall a second time before chuckling and saying "Well, maybe this hurts you just a little bit more."

I wasn't going to go down so easily so I grabbed her by her arm and judo flipped her onto the ground. Luan recovered quickly and took advantage of her invisibility, grabbing me by my legs and tripping me up. I countered however by using my legs to monkey flip her into a bookshelf. Luan giggled before turning the bookshelf and its contents invisible with a single touch and tossing a heavy encyclopedia at me. I think it goes without saying that you can't dodge what you can't see, thus the encyclopedia hit me squarely in my right eye, causing me to drop to my knees, clutching my face in pain. Knowing that a barrage of invisible books was likely to follow, I hid in a dark corner of the room and disappeared.

Luan surprised me by taking the bookshelf apart and throwing its invisible pieces at me, with one of them grazing my head. Thinking quickly, I used my restoration powers to not only repair the bookshelf, but render it visible again and sending it flying back at Luan. I could only assume that she dodged. I had to chuckle humorlessly at the fact I could fix anything with my powers, but I couldn't fix my broken family.

Anyway, there was a brief period of silence as neither Luan or I made a move. That's when I heard Luan slowly walking over to where Mr. Coconuts was lying, the tommy gun still in his hand. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a knife from the cooking robot animatronic and threw it towards Mr. Coconuts, hoping that I wouldn't end up accidentally stabbing Luan. Fortunately, I avoided doing so while still preventing Luan from picking him up.

Luan let out a hiss before she began softly giggling and cracked another joke, saying "Wow, that really _cut deep_ if you know what I mean. HAHAHA! Get it?" It was then that I noticed I could see part of her hand, coated in red and dripping blood onto the floor. It was the only clear indicator of where she was standing and I took advantage, closing the distance between us in an instant and tackling her to the ground.

Luan shrugged it off however as she grabbed me by my jacket collar and tossed me into a giant flatscreen TV displayed on the wall. Thankfully, the TV was nothing more than a hollow prop so I wasn't electrocuted as my body broke the screen. However, it was made of real glass meaning I sustained more than a few cuts as I crashed through it. Thinking quickly, I hid myself within the hollow inside of the TV before using my powers to repair the TV screen, concealing my location.

I lied in wait, hoping that Luan would get close and that I could make my move. With me temporarily out of her hair, Luan was free to retrieve Mr. Coconuts and his tommy gun. While she hadn't seen me hide myself inside the TV, she did notice that I had fixed its screen, something that hinted at my hiding place.

"Looks like you're about to get cancelled, kid" Mr. Coconuts said as Luan walked over to the TV and he aimed his gun at it.

That was the opening I was looking for. Just as Mr. Coconuts opened fire, I burst from out of the TV and kicked his arm, causing him to shoot upwards and knock out some of the lights, providing me with more dark places to hide. As Coconuts adjusted his aim, I leapt past him Luan and disappeared into the shadows. I reappeared next to the high rise window and taunted the two of them, sticking out my tongue and saying "With as lousy an aim as yours, I bet that I could stand completely still and you still wouldn't be able to hit me!"

"I'll show you lousy aim!" Mr. Coconuts snarled, aiming his weapon directly at me and pulling the trigger, only to hear a series of clicks.

"Don't you just hate when that happens?" I teased, goading Luan to come closer. Much to my surprise, she instead threw Mr. Coconuts at me, catching me off guard and allowing her to tackle me through the window and send us plummeting down below into the It's a Small World After All ride. Fortunately for both of us, it wasn't that high of a fall and we landed in water, breaking our fall.

I emerged from the water and quickly climbed onto one of the boats that was passing through the tunnel. Luan did the same, leaping onto the same boat as me. She briefly became visible again to make a pun at my expense. "Aww, where are you going? We were just starting to get along _swimmingly_." Mr. Coconuts was nowhere to be seen and in her hands instead was a crowbar. This wasn't going to be good.

As she turned herself and the crowbar invisible again, I took advantage of the dimly lit tunnels to hide myself. The cut on her hand had healed, taking away the one distinguishing feature I had. However, she was soaking wet, something that allowed me to figure out where she was. Hoping to take her by surprise, I emerged from the dark corners of the tunnel and tried pouncing on her. What I got instead was a taste of metal in my mouth as the crowbar collided with my jaw. Crumpling to the floor in a heap, I clutched at my mouth, blood trickling out the side of it.

"You're so predictable, little brother" I heard Luan say as she loomed over me. "For the interest of your safety, I'm going to have to _bar_ you from trying that again." I threw a punch at her, only to be hit in the gut with the crowbar. I doubled over in pain and Luan smashed me over the back. "Wow, that looked like it really hurt" She hit me over the head a second time. "Hold on, that look like it hurt a lot more…" She then hit me again. "So which hurts more: A or B?" She backhanded me across the face with the crowbar "Forehand or backhand?" Luan let out a laugh, ceasing in her assault for a brief moment and turning visible yet again.

Although my body was wracked in pain, I still stood to my feet. I wasn't going down just yet. As Luan stared me down, I didn't utter a word before I jumped off the boat and into the water, leaving Luan confused as to what I was up to. She looked around, trying to see where I would attack from next. She looked in every direction, seeking out every shadowy corner I could potentially leap out from. What she didn't know was that I had already found the perfect hiding spot in the form of disguising myself within her own shadow. Knowing that I could only hide while she was visible, I struck then and there, kicking Luan in the back of her head.

Luan fell to the ground and I followed up my attack, delivering a punch to the face as she turned over to face me. It hurt me to have to do this, but I had no other choice. Luan grunted as I planted my knee into her gut before I judo flipped her onto her back. Luan wasn't ready to give up just yet as she smashed me with her crowbar in the knee. Dropping to my knees, I was then backhanded in the face and knocked onto my back. Luan stood over me and raised the crowbar over her head, seemingly intending to deliver the final blow. This was it. I was actually going to die and at the hands of my sister. Then, something strange happened.

Gazing up, I looked directly into Luan's eyes and delivered a simple plea "Luan, please, don't do this."

Much to my surprise, Luan hesitated. For a few seconds, neither of us moved an inch. Luan had a conflicted look on her face, as if part of her wanted to end me but the other half couldn't go through with it. Suddenly she raised the crowbar over her head once again, causing me to close my eyes and await my end, only to hear a loud splash instead. Opening my eyes, I saw that Luan had dropped the crowbar into the water and was looking at me with tears in her eyes.

"You know, it's kinda funny," She said with a slight giggle. "As much as I made fun of you for crying out for our family, I can't bring myself to kill you."

Slowly rising to my feet, I remained on guard, for all I knew she could be playing a trick. "I guess our blood bond really is thicker than water," I said.

"Yeah, I guess so" Luan said, letting out a laugh. "Then again, you always did bring out my softer side"

That's when the two of us heard a voice say "Aww, how touching". We didn't even have the time to react before a blast blew open a hole in the tunnel and a bunch of androids entered. As I expected, leading these machines was Lisa, accompanied by three burly henchmen. "Unfortunately, this is where the ride ends for you two." Lisa turned to me and said, "If you were wise, you'd surrender peacefully and not interfere"

"I'm not letting you kill our sister," I said, determined not to let Lisa succeed in her goal. Where had she even come from? How had she found us so quickly?

Lisa sighed and said "I should've known you've let your sentimentality cloud your sense of reason" She snapped her fingers and commanded her robots "Waste the clown and try to capture my bratty brother alive. In fact, make sure he doesn't escape."

Grabbing Luan by the arm, I began running towards the end of the tunnel. "Come on, we've gotta go"

As we ran, Luan couldn't resist poking fun at Lisa. "Come on sis, sure my puns may have been a little annoying, but it's nothing to kill me over! HAHAHA!"

"Don't let them escape!" Lisa ordered her machines and henchmen, joining the chase after us.

Despite the injuries from our fight making it painful to move, I ran faster than I ever had before, doing my best to block out the pain. Shortly thereafter, gunfire rang out and bullets began whizzing past Luan I's head. "Quick, go invisible!" I shouted at her, only to hear Lisa in the background scoff and yell out "That won't do you any good! My androids are equipped with infrared vision that allow them to detect a person's heat signature, whether they're visible or not!".

Leave it to Lisa to have thought of everything. Hoping to shield Luan from the bullets, I pushed her in front of me and made sure to stay behind her. I knew in the back of my head that I was stupid for employing this strategy given that I could heal any gunshot she sustained while I myself would be screwed if I were suffered serious injury, but I just couldn't risk letting her get hurt.

The end of the tunnel was coming up, if we could just make it there, we may be able to escape. We had put some considerable distance between ourselves and Lisa's forces, but it was too early to count them out just yet. Sure enough, I felt a sharp burning pain in my back and left knee out of nowhere and crumpled to the ground.

"Lio!" I heard Luan call my name before she turned around and picked me up, helping me limp along.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Go on without me or you're going to get killed. I'll only slow you down"

"All that talk about not leaving family behind and you expect me to leave you to die?" Luan scoffed, chuckling to herself. "Sometimes, I just don't get you."

We managed to make it out of the tunnel and found ourselves on the bridge overlooking the river 50 meters below. Lisa's robots and henchmen were still shooting at us and thanks to the pale moonlight illuminating the path, there were few places I could hide. Not that I thought about hiding in the first place. Doing my best to ignore the pain as well as the bleeding, I limped as fast as I could, trying not to slow Luan down. I know I said that I wasn't going to let her get away, but I'd rather her escape this attack than be killed.

We were halfway across the bridge when there was a loud explosion that was the result of a rocket fired from one of Lisa's androids. The portion of the bridge we were standing on started to collapse. Thinking quickly, Luan tossed me to safety. I wasn't going to let her go however as I reached out and grabbed her by her arm. Due to a combination of excruciating pain and blood loss, I was starting to become lightheaded and didn't have the full strength to hold onto her without slipping myself. Something that Luan recognizes right away.

"Let go, you idiot or you're going to get pulled down with me!" Luan scolded me.

"No way! I didn't come this close to just to lose you!" I refused. "As you said, I've already lost my mother, father, and girlfriend to death! I can't afford to lose my sister too!"

"Yeah and think about Lincoln and Lynn and Lucy and everyone else," Luan replied. "Do you think they'd be happy losing two siblings? Don't get yourself killed trying to save me!"

"I can't just let you go!" I said, breaking down and becoming emotional. I could hear Lisa and her help getting closer. "You're the one who inspired me to always stand up for my siblings! I wouldn't be the person I am without you!"

"Heheh, all this time you've been trying to protect me," Luan said with a chuckle. "It should be the other way around since I'm your big sister. Therefore…" That's when I saw it, an electric joy buzzer strapped to Luan's hand. This was no ordinary joy buzzer either, being potent enough to stop one's heart through sustained contact.

"What're you…?" I asked, tears forming in my eyes.

"Sorry Lio, but someone has to _take the fall_!" Luan said before shocking me with the joy buzzer, forcing me to let go of her hand. As she plummeted to her doom, Luan let out a maniacal laugh that only ceased when she hit the water and plummeted beneath the depths. Any hopes I had that she survived were dashed when I saw several bright flashes illuminating her silhouette as she sank further into the water, a result of her lethal joy buzzer coming in contact with water.

Shocked and heartbroken by what I'd just seen, I could only pull myself back up and roll over onto my back. I gently wept to myself as I started feeling the effects of my injuries more more with each passing second. I was too weak to move and fading in out of consciousness as Lisa approached me her robots close behind. The gaping gap in the bridge separated the two of us, but I knew that if she wanted to, she could just levitate across.

"My, my, my, words cannot express how thankful I am that my siblings are so predictable," She gloated. "I extend my sincerest thank you to you, Lio as you lead me right to Luan, just as I knew you would. You made my job far easier and now the people of Royal Woods can sleep peacefully knowing that The Joker is off the streets." I didn't even respond to her as she turned to her human henchmen and asked "So how many of you think she's dead?"

"Dead," One henchman replied, his buddy saying "Totally dead," and the third henchman saying "She's deader than mud."

"Well too bad, I sign your paychecks" Lisa replied. "Get down there and check the river until you find a body." Her henchmen grumbled and left to do as they were told while Lisa and her androids turned their attention back to me. "I know you're probably crushed right now, Lio, especially considering how close you Luan were, but understand that this had to happen. This was for the greater good."

By this point, I was fading away at a rapid pace. It wouldn't be too long before I passed out. Lisa and her robots floated across the gap and surrounded me with Lisa pulling out a metallic collar. "Not to mention that with you in my clutches, I can sleep easier at night" She reaches down to put the collar around my neck when suddenly 2 of her robots were ripped to pieces by an unseen force. "What in Osiris' name!?" She exclaimed, being distracted by the destruction.

Before I knew what was happening, the rest of Lisa's machines were destroyed, being literally torn apart. A black portal suddenly opened up underneath me and I felt myself being pulled inside it. I was just as confused as Lisa was at this point, not knowing whether I was being saved or kidnapped. As I lost consciousness, the last thing I heard before fading to black was "…Zinthos."

END ISSUE 7


	8. Issue 8: Tying Up Lucy Ends

I was thankful to have made it just in time to save him. Thanks to his emotional state, he wasn't too difficult to find. Feelings of stress, fear, concern, and love dominated his heart and it sent out a signal strong enough that I'd be able to detect it from halfway across the world. Those feelings were so strong that they almost completely blocked out the emotional signals of my other siblings. I don't know what had pushed him to such a state of despair, but I knew that whatever it was it couldn't be good. It was a good thing I reached him when I did as he was in bad shape when I found him. He was badly beaten, with cuts on his neck and legs and gunshots that left gaping wounds in his left leg and lower back respectively. I have to admit, part of me was amazed that he was still alive. Guess it was that Loud Family spirit coursing through his veins. I don't know what Lisa was planning on doing to him, but I wasn't going to just sit back and watch. Opening a portal, I brought him to my hideout (an underground cave that had been heavily renovated and decorated with dark decor) and got to work on treating his injuries.

The first thing I did was stop the bleeding from his leg and back. After that, I used my powers to extract the bullets from his body before doing the same to remove the glass that had been embedded in his limbs. Upon further inspection, I noticed that he had two broken ribs so I wrapped up his torso to keep him from further aggravating them. I may not have had the same healing powers that he possessed, but I could still ease his pain. Moreso emotionally than physically, but I was sure that he'd be thankful nonetheless. After finishing up on treating his wounds, I telekinetically placed him down gently on a cot. It may not have been a luxury king sized bed or anything, but it should've still been comfortable enough so that he wouldn't be in pain.

That had been several hours ago and he was still unconscious, causing me to wonder if his injuries had perhaps been more severe than I initially expected. For a moment, I even wondered if he had died as a result of them, only to be relieved when he turned over into his side. I used my empath abilities to scan his mind as he slept and saw that it was filled with turmoil and grief. I didn't know the cause of those emotions, but whatever had happened, it was weighing heavily on his heart.

Finally, he awoke with a start, nearly jumping out of bed. It took him a couple of seconds to calm down, but once he did, he took a quick look around his surroundings. Any worries he may have had quickly faded away when he saw my face.

"Lucy?" He asked, as if unable to believe his eyes. "Are you the one who saved me?" I nodded my head and Lio asked "How did you even find me? I know Lisa followed me, but I didn't think that you'd do the same."

"I didn't," I answered. "Remember, I can track any member of my family as long as I have a strong enough feel of their emotional state and your heart was sending out stronger signals than a cell phone tower."

Lio looked straight ahead and started softly sobbing. Before I got a chance to ask him what was wrong, he answered for me. "I failed! I completely failed! I tried to save one of my sisters, but not only did I fail, I was the cause of her death!"

"Calm down," I told him. "Tell me everything that happened."

"I heard from Lana that Lisa planned on killing Luan and kidnapping all of us, aside from Luna," He explained. "So Lincoln, Lynn, and I devised a plan to seek out you, Lori, Leni, Lola and Luan and save them before Lisa got her hands on you. Naturally, I decided to set out after Luan to try and get to her before Lisa snuffed her out. Lisa followed me however and just when it seemed like I was going to convince Luan to come peacefully, she attacked with her robots. We tried to escape, but she ended up blowing up the bridge we were crossing. I tried to hold onto Luan, but she forced me to let go and plummeted to her death! If the fall didn't kill her, then the electric shocks either did her in or caused her to drown! Damnit, she'd probably still be alive if I hadn't led Lisa right to her!"

He proceeded to cry even harder as I tried to calm him down. "You can't blame yourself for what happened to Luan," I told him. "If you hadn't tried to help her, Lisa would've found her either way"

"Maybe, but my interference only sped up her demise," He said, tears running down his cheeks and his voice shaky. "When I was 6, I made a vow that I would always go out of my way to look out for and protect my siblings, be it my brother or my older sisters and especially my younger sisters! That vow came about after Luan cheered me & Lincoln up after we were harassed by bullies on our first day of school." I didn't say anything, letting him vent instead. "Now, all these years later, I end up getting her killed! Some brother I turned out to be"

He buried his face in his lap and cried for several seconds before I placed my hand on his shoulder and took away all the negative emotions consuming him. Immediately, his mood improved and he became more relaxed. Of course, as anyone would be, he was greatly confused by what I had done.

"How did you do that?" He asked calmly.

"Empath abilities," I explained. "Telekinesis and spells aren't the only powers I possess. Not only can I feel other people's emotions, I can 'feed on them' as well, taking away any negativity they may be feeling and leaving them generally more calm and relaxed and using it to make myself stronger."

"Well that certainly helped," Lio said, turning to me and saying "Thank you"

"Don't mention it," I told him.

"So how long have I been out?" Lio asked.

"For a few hours now," I answered. Lio tried to get out of bed only for soreness to overtake him, causing him to flop back down.

"Try not to move too much," I advised him. "You're still really hurt."

"That may be the case, but there's still work that needs to be done," Lio replied, struggling immensely, but still somehow managing to rise to his feet. Even still, he looked like he could barely stand. I had forgotten just how stubborn he could be sometimes. "I've already failed one sister, I'm not going to fail another. Not going to lie, I'm extremely thankful that you came to my aid as that spared me the trouble of having to find you myself."

"I can take care of myself, you know" I reminded him. "I'm not some little damsel in distress that needs to be rescued."

"That's not what I was implying," He said. "If anything, I was the damsel in distress that you had to rescue." He chuckled before saying "I was merely expressing gratitude at the fact that I knew where you were as well as the fact you're safe and sound. It's good to know that Lisa hasn't gotten to you."

"Lisa is of little concern to me," I said. "I'm more than capable of holding my own against her and whatever tricks she wants to play"

"Even if that's the case, it never hurts to be too safe," Lio said. "I know this might be asking a bit much, but I want you to come along with me and meet up with me, Lynn, and Lincoln." Before I had the chance to respond, he added "I know, I know. You're not a damsel in distress, but the three of us could really use your help and with your powers, you could be of great assistance." He then coughed and said "Plus, it would be cool if we were just able to hang out again and listen to dark cabaret like we used to. Maybe even watch a horror movie or even better, you could recite one of your poems if you're up for it."

"You know, I was tempted to decline your offer," I admitted. "But then I remembered that I did miss you guys and that it would be cool if to interact with some of my siblings and live like a family again, even if only briefly."

Lio smirked and asked "So is that a yes?"

I smiled back at him, nodded and said "Yes. Yes it is."

Lio immediately grabbed me and pulled me into a hug, but in this process aggravated his injuries and dropped to his knees. That didn't stop him from letting out a smile and saying "It's good to have you back, Luc." There was a brief pause before Lio began rubbing the back of his neck and asked "One more thing and again, I hope we're not asking too much, but would it be cool if Lincoln, Lynn, and I crashed here and used your bat cave as our hideout. Hiding out in old abandoned warehouses isn't exactly very fun, in fact, it's kinda cliche, and our old house is out of the question because it's too obvious."

I was thankful for the fact that my hair obscured my eyes that way Lio couldn't see me rolling them as I murmured "Sigh. Sure, go ahead. Just make sure you guys aren't followed whenever you come around."

"You have our word that we'll be super extra careful," Lio promised before asking me, "So, what have you been up to since we last saw each other?"

"Nothing really," I answered. "I've been keeping an eye on the events going on, but have neglected to get involved due to the fact that… well, you know…"

"You're still having trouble controlling your powers?" Lio questioned and I nodded. "You seemed to have pretty good control over them just a few minutes ago when you were wiping my mind. And when you brought me here through that portal"

"That was because I was focused and completely in control of my emotions at that time," I explained to him. "My powers require that I be in complete control of my emotions at all times otherwise they go haywire and someone could end up getting hurt. I can't take that chance."

"You mean to tell me that the almost always calm, stoic Lucy has a hard time keeping her composure?" Lio asked. "Honestly, I never would've guessed it"

"That's because I've mastered hiding my emotions from you guys over the years," I explained. "I'm not going to lie, when I saw the commotion going down at City Hall, I was tempted to get involved, especially when I saw that Lincoln, Lynn, Lana, and Lisa were involved. But then I realized that I probably wouldn't be able to keep it together if I were to see one of them get seriously hurt. If I'm being honest with you, I almost panicked when I saw _you_ in such an injured state. I thought you were going to die and I nearly freaked out"

"Glad to know you still care for a loser of a brother like me," Lio said with a laugh. "Rest assured though, I'm not going anywhere any time soon. Like I told Lu-," He paused and for a second, it looked like he was going to start crying again. However, he quickly got a hold of himself and continued "Like I told her, as long as my siblings are still alive, I can't give up just yet."

I chuckled and asked him, "Are you saying that the power of love literally kept you alive? Not going to lie, Lio, that's kinda cheesy"

"Hey, sometimes you've just gotta let the voice of love take you higher," Lio said with a shrug before laughing. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how's Haiku?"

I nearly broke down at the very mention of her name, causing one of my sculptures to topple over. Luckily, I was able to get it together rather quickly and answer his question. "She's doing better, but she's still in a coma and shows no signs of recovering any time soon. Why do you ask?"

"Because, I want to test something out," Lio said, looking away as if somewhat ashamed.

"And what would that be?" I asked him.

Lio took a deep breath and explained, "Lisa went after me first due to the fact that she thinks my healing abilities can cure the virus. I had never thought of using my powers in such a manner, nor did I ever have the chance. To be frank, I don't even know if I'm capable of doing such a thing, but I'll never know until I try…"

"So you want to use Haiku to try and see if you're actually capable of healing the virus through your powers?" I asked.

"Yes," He said, nodding his head and looking away from me again. "I know it's asking a lot, but I need to know the answer to this question. Not to mention that if I can cure the virus with my powers, it'll seriously throw off Lisa's plans."

"I don't know about this," I said, debating whether to accept his offer and help him find an answer or not. "Are there any drawbacks to your healing powers? Like, have they ever gone haywire and backfired or had negative consequences such as further mutilating a person's wound?"

"No," Lio said, shaking his head. "Even when I'm angry or unfocused, my healing powers have always worked perfectly."

"If that's the case, then I suppose there's really nothing to lose," I told him. "I'd say it's worth a shot."

"Great," Lio said. "Just take us right to her and let me do my magic."

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," I said, opening up another portal that would take us directly to the hospital where Haiku was staying. "Come on, let's hurry"

We jumped through the portal and were instantly in the hospital's hallways. It was almost 2AM in the morning so there weren't that many people roaming the halls. Our coast was mostly clear, all we had to do was find Haiku's room, get in and let Lio try healing her before returning back to my cave. If everything went according to plan, we might even have been able to take Haiku with us. We didn't have to search for long before we found the room Haiku was staying in. Lio & I looked to our left and our right to make sure nobody was coming before opening the door and sneaking inside. I wasn't prepared for what I saw upon entering the room.

Just as she had been for several months, Haiku lay unconscious on a bed, unmoving and unaware of the world around her. In contrast to the last time I'd seen her, where her face had been contorted in twisted expressions of pain, this time she looked as if she were merely in a deep slumber. As if she were a sleeping fallen angel of some kind. She had definitely been improving as her skin was no longer pale (well, paler than it usually was) and clammy like before. For a second, I pondered whether she had died and I was too late to save her. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her chest steadily and rhythmically rise and fall. I hovered over to her and placed a hand to her head, checking to see if she had a fever. My relief faded away when I felt that her head was burning hot to the point I recoiled.

That triggered a small panic in me that resulted in me losing control of my powers for just a second and accidentally destroying a heart monitor. Once again, I settled down and regained my stoic composure. For a few seconds, I did nothing more than stare at her, taking it all in. It was only when Lio gently tapped me on the shoulder that I remembered what we were here for.

"Are you alright?" He asked me. "I'm sorry, it didn't mean to interrupt your moment, I just-,"

"No, it's fine," I told him. "Come on, let's see if you can cure her before a doctor walks in on us."

"Right," Lio said, nodding his head and walking over to Haiku. He was about to place a hand on her head when we suddenly heard two sets of footsteps approaching from down the hall and two men talking rather loudly to each other, causing us to freeze in place.

"I don't get it, Ted," I heard a deep, dim witted sounding voice say. "Why does the boss want us to kidnap some random innocent girl? I don't see how that's going to help her?"

"You dummy, use your brain, will ya Ren?" Ted replied, having a thick Jersey accent. "This ain't just some random girl we're nabbing. This girl is the best friend of one of the boss' sisters. Now put two and two together and you've got your answer."

"I still don't get, what's the importance?" Ren asked. Clearly he wasn't the brains of this operation.

Ted groaned and exclaimed "You dolt, it's a wonder you even made it past kindergarten! Remember: the Boss is going after all of her siblings so that they can't fight against her. This sister in particular has been doing a real good job staying under the radar. However, if we get a hold of her friend, then like a fly to honey, she'll come running out of the woodworks to get her back."

"Oh, now I get it," Ren said, finally catching on. The footsteps stopped right in front of our door.

"Not only that, but the Boss may even be able to use this to convince her sister to join her side just like the other one did," Ted laughed. "I swear, the Boss is playing 7-Dimensional chess while her bratty half pint siblings can't even play checkers."

"Quick, lock the door," I whispered to Lio.

"I'm on it," Lio said, limping over to the door and locking it shut while simultaneously turning the lights off, leaving the room shrouded in darkness. I can only assume he did so to ensure he had plenty of places to hide should the two bozos break in.

"Well, that's enough chit-chat, let's go ahead, grab this girl and get outta here," Ted said, asking his partner. "You're sure this is the right room, right?"

"Yep, the front desk lady said room 616," Ren replied.

"Alright then, let's go," Ted said, trying to open the door, only to find it was locked. The door handle jiggled as he continued trying to open it to no avail. "What the? Are you kidding me?"

"What's wrong?" Ren asked.

"This stupid door, it won't open!" Ted answered, growing frustrated. All the while, Lio & I hadn't moved an inch and were holding our breaths. Each of us was prepared for a fight, as evidenced by Lio fading into the shadows and perching himself above the door.

"Are you sure you aren't opening it right?" Ren asked, drawing Ted's ire.

"Shut up, you mook! I know how to open a door!" He shouted, pulling frantically at the door handle.

"Do you want me to just shoot the door open?" Ren asked him.

"Ren, I swear to god, I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you were that stupid," Ted replied. "We're in a hospital, ya idiot! We'll blow our cover in a heartbeat if we do that! And that's not even getting into the fact of how bad it'll look for two armed men to open fire in a hospital and take off with a little girl! I know you only have half a brain cell, but for the sake of all that is sacred in this world, put it to good use! I swear you're killing me!"

I found some amusement in the fact that he knew firing a gun would blow their cover, but didn't seem to realize that shouting and fiddling with the door would also give them away. That's when I heard one of them kicking at the door.

"What are you doing?" Ren asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Ted replied. "I'm breaking this door down? I am not going to let some locked door stop me from collecting a paycheck. Besides, do you know how mad the Boss will be if we return to her empty handed?"

"But what if someone sees or hears?" Ren asked. Guess he'd taken Ted's advice and put that half a brain cell to good use.

"Just shut up and keep a lookout and we'll be alright," Ted told him, growing increasingly frustrated and kicking the door harder and harder.

With each kick, the door buckled more and more. It wouldn't be longer before it caved under the force of Ted's kicks. Sure enough, after one final kick, the door swung open and crashed against the wall. Leaping from out of the shadows, Lio swung down and kicked a charging Ted in the chest, sending him flying out of the room. Luckily for him, Ren was there to catch him in his burly arms.

"What the?" Asked a confused Ren. "What are these kids doing here?"

"They must be more of the Boss' bratty siblings," Ted said. "They must've somehow found out about her plan."

"What are we going to do?" Ren asked.

"What we're going to do is collect a triple payment," Ted said, getting a big head. "Do you know grateful the boss will be if we bring not only the comatose girl we were sent after, but two of her siblings as well? We'll be set for life!"

"You two think that you can take us down?" I challenged them. "Please, don't make me laugh."

"Am I supposed to be scared?" Ted asked. "Ain't no way I'm losing to two little kids." He pointed at Lio and said "Especially when one of them looks like he's about to keel over and die if you so much as breathe on them." He rolled up the sleeves to his suit and lunges at Lio, taking a wild swing at him.

Blending into the shadows of the room, Lio easily evaded his attack and maneuvered himself behind him, kicking him in the back of his head.

"Yare yare daze," Lio sighed. "Don't underestimate me just because I'm a kid." He turned to Ren and have him the "just bring it" hand gesture, inviting him to attack.

Ren took the bait and swung his massive fist at Lio. Lio disappeared into the ground, leaving Ren confused as to where he had gone. Little did he know that Lio was disguising himself within his shadow. He soon got a clue when Lio emerged from under his feet and hit him with a stiff uppercut to his chin, knocking the big man off his feet. Meanwhile, Ted came after me, grabbing one of Haiku's bedpans and trying to hit me with it. I put a stop to that by telekinetically wrenching the bedpan from his hands and smashing him in the face with it. Hissing and grabbing at his face, he grabbed at his pistol, looking ready to shoot me before remembering he was in a hospital.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" I said, telekinetically grabbing ahold of some syringes and launching them at Ted.

Ted dodged most of them, but a few of them snagged his clothes and pinned him against the wall, immobilizing him briefly. That didn't deter him as he pulled himself free, ripping one of the sleeves off his shirt in the process. Grabbing on the syringes, Ted tried stabbing me in the neck, only for me to open a portal and teleport behind him where I punched him as hard as I could in the head. Ted staggered, but wasn't ready to give up just yet. He tried kicking at me, only for me to jump over his leg and punch him in the stomach.

Ren wasn't faring much better against Lio. Lio used his shadow powers effectively, taking advantage of the dark room to teleport all over the place. Try as he might, Ren couldn't land a single punch on him. Meanwhile, Lio took full advantage and teed off on Ren, hitting him with quick, precise strikes before disappearing once again. Everything was going well for Lio until he tried going for a roundhouse kick, only for Ren to suddenly catch him with a knee to the torso. Lio instantly dropped to the floor and coughed up blood. He started wheezing, as if struggling to breathe, causing me to think that the blow had caused his broken ribs to puncture one of his lungs. That didn't stop him from fighting as he faded away into the shadows and reappeared from the ceiling, dropping down and goomba stomping Ren in the head, once again knocking the big man down and momentarily knocking him out. However, the attack came at a price as it knocked the wind out of him and left him crawling on his knees.

"Looks like your brother's not doing so hot," Ted taunted, pointing at Lio. I mistakenly took my eyes off of Ted for just a moment in order to get a good look at Lio, opening the door for Ted to sucker punch me. I hit hard against the wall and was stunned for a second as Ted tended to his partner. "Come on, ya big oaf! Get up! Hold off the goth girly while I grab the patient!"

Ren slowly started to stir as Ted made his way over to Haiku. Ted roughly grabbed Haiku by the arm and I nearly lost it, coming close to flying into a rage. I kept my cool however and instead sent a scalpel right between his shoulder blades, stunning Ted and causing him to scream in pain.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" I shouted, grabbing hold of Ted and throwing him hard against the wall, incapacitating him for the moment. I then turned my attention to Lio. "Quick, get to Haiku, I'll hold off these guys!"

"I'm on it," Lio said, standing to his feet and limping over to Haiku.

By now, Ren had fully regained consciousness and was going after Lio. I put a stop to that by taking a pair of defibrillators and using them to give him a shock. Lio made his way over to Haiku, gently placed his hands on her head and healed her, enveloping Haiku is a pink aura in the process. I heard Haiku let out a gentle whimper and saw her gently move her head. For all intents and purposes, it looked like Lio had cured her of the virus. Of course, I couldn't tell without getting closer so I refrained from celebrating just yet. As to be expected, the fighting had alerted the hospital staff, who were making their way towards us. After delivering one last kick to Ren's head and smashing Ted over the head, I made my way over to Haiku and Lio.

"Come on, we've got to go!" I said, opening a portal. "Grab Haiku and jump through the portal!"

Picking Haiku up in a fireman's carry, Lio did as told and followed me to the portal, taking us back to my bat cave just as the doctors ran into the room. Though he was struggling, Lio carried Haiku over to the cot and gently placed her down before dropping to a single knee.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll be fine," He insisted, flashing me a grin and giving me a thumbs up.

"I'm sorry about asking you to carry her, I forgot about your injuries," I apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Lio said, glancing over to Haiku. "Is your friend alright?"

"I don't know," I said, taking a close look at Haiku. I placed my hand to her head once again and found that her fever was gone. Haiku moaned and shook her head before jolting awake. "H-Haiku?"

"Lucy?" Haiku asked. "Is it really you?"

I nodded and for a few seconds there was nothing but silence before she and I grabbed each other in a tight embrace.

"I'm glad to have you back," I told her. "I didn't know if you were going to make it and I thought I'd never see you again."

"Hey, if I had died, I would've trusted you to direct my funeral," Haiku said with a smile. "Knowing you, you would've delivered a killer eulogy"

"As much as I adore Death, I'm glad he didn't come for my friend just yet," I told her before asking "So how are you feeling?"

"I feel great," Haiku answered, getting out of bed. "For the first time in forever, I feel alive. Although then again maybe I'm just…"

"Undead, undead, undead, undeader than dead!" She and I sang at the same time.

I guess I was too happy and lost control of my emotions as I ended up accidentally destroying a few stalactites hanging overhead and sending them crashing towards us. I was too taken by surprise to move, but Haiku wasn't. She raised her arms as if to shield the three of us. Instead however, she stopped the stalactites dead in their tracks before safely dropping them onto the ground. Haiku seemed just as confused as I was by what she had done.

"Looks like you really have been cured of the virus," Lio said with a smile.

"Huh?" Haiku questioned.

"Remember, anyone who survives the virus gains whatever power they most desire," Lio reminded us. "It would appear your power has just manifested."

"But what is _my_ power?" Haiku asked. She raised her arms into the air, trying to find the answer on her own. The result was the ground shaking under our feet. "Whoa…"

"If I had to take a guess, I'd say you've gained a form of geokinesis," Lio surmised. "The ability to control the earth is a rather impressive one, I must admit."

"Certainly stronger than Lio's abilities," I lightheartedly teased him before asking Haiku. "How does it feel?"

"Weird, if I must be honest," Haiku answered. "Like, I don't know what to do right now"

"You're not going to know what to do right away," I told her. "It'll take some time, but eventually you'll know which path is the best and gain control over your powers." Thinking back to how I was still struggling to control my own powers, I added "Well, mostly".

"Hmm… I may not know exactly what to do," Haiku said. "But one thing I do know is that I want to stay by your side."

I smiled at her and we hugged once again. Our moment was somewhat ruined when Lio's cell phone rang and he answered it.

"Moshi moshi," He said.

"Lio? Are you alright?" I heard Lynn ask him. "Lincoln and I hadn't heard from you in several days so we were starting to get worried something had happened to you."

I heard Lincoln chime in, asking "So did you manage to find Luan?"

"I did," Lio answered. "But things didn't go quite as planned. Fortunately, I did come across another sister of ours. In fact, she kinda saved my life"

"Really?" Lynn asked. "Which sister was that?"

"Your roommate," Lio answered. "And that's not all, turns out Lisa was right to be concerned regarding my healing powers,"

At this point, I piped up, telling Lincoln and Lynn "It's true. He ended up curing and saving my best friend with them,"

"You mean Haiku?" Lincoln questioned before deducing. "Wait, if she had the virus and was cured, that means she gained some superpower, am I right?"

"You'd be correct," Haiku answered for me. "I can control the earth itself."

"Wow, that's pretty neat," Lynn said. "Looks like we've got another ally on our side!"

"Would you mind meeting up with us?" Lincoln asked.

"Actually, I was going to bring you guys to my hideout," I told them. "Lio told me you guys needed a place to meet up so I figured my hideout would be the perfect place. Just stay where you are and I'll be right there."

"Okay, we'll be ready," Lynn said.

"You guys coming with me?" I asked Lio & Haiku as I used my empathy powers to hone in on Lincoln's location and opened a portal.

"Of course I'll go with you," Haiku said, standing by my side.

"I think I'll stay here and watch the cave for you," Lio said. "Make sure nobody breaks in." He gently kicked up dust and added "Besides, you two just reunited with each other. You guys don't need me sticking around like some third wheel."

"If you insist," I told him, grabbing Haiku by her hand and jumping through the portal with her. For the first time in a while, I actually felt… happy.

END ISSUE 8


	9. Issue 9: A GLori’ous Reunion

"Babe, are you sure you don't wanna come stay with me and my family in Great Lakes City?" He asked me, concern clear in his voice. "It's really no trouble at all. If you want, you can bring along Lincoln too. Ronnie Anne says she misses seeing him with how long it's been."

"Believe me, Boo-Boo Bear, I'd love to come stay with you guys," I told him. "But even after all this time, I'm still not sure if I'm completely virus free. I couldn't possibly risk infecting you too and spreading the disease to Great Lakes."

"I know, babe, I know," Bobby said with a sigh. "It's just that… it's been so long since we've seen each other and I really, really miss you."

"I know exactly how you feel," I said. "I really, really miss you too, but the time isn't right right now. Maybe after someone manages to create a cure or a vaccine or something for the virus, we'll be able to reunite with each other."

"But who knows how long that could be?" Bobby asked and I fell silent. I knew that he was right, there was no telling when it would be safe for us to see each other again. And that made his offer all the more tempting. "Besides, I've heard about all the chaos going on over there in Royal Woods. You've got criminals going on a tear, wild animals attacking random people, your own sister has her own fleet of robots at her command! It'd be so much safer if you came to live with us."

"Thanks, Bobby" I said. "That means a lot, really it does, but I'm capable of handling myself." I made my hand glow white hot with flames just to demonstrate. "More than capable"

Our conversation was rudely intruded on when a rude driver honked his horn at me and yelled "Hey, get out of the crosswalk, you stupid blonde bimbo! Can't you see the light's green!?"

Looking up, I saw that the man was right and that the light was indeed green. Still, I took offense to his tone and the fact that he'd called me a bimbo. Thus, I yelled back at him, "Shut up! It's the stupid light's fault for being the wrong color!" before melting his tires with my flames to teach him a lesson.

"What the frick!?" The man exclaimed, getting out of his car and attempting to extinguish the flames before they spread to the rest of his car.

"You okay, babe?" I heard Bobby ask.

"I'm fine," I said, returning my attention back to him. "Just had to deal with some stupid driver being an obnoxious jerk. It was nothing major."

"You didn't hurt him, did you?" Bobby asked.

"Nah, he's totally fine, trust me" I said, walking off and paying no mind as the man's car became completely engulfed in flames while he desperately tried putting them out with his jacket. Either nobody had seen me ignite his tires or they just didn't care. Whatever the case was, everyone just went about their day as if nothing happened. "Although, strangely enough, his tires mysteriously caught fire."

"Whoa, I guess you could say that was karma striking back at him," Bobby said, his obliviousness and childlike innocence reminding me of just why I loved him so much.

"Yeah, you could say that," I replied with a smile. "How's your family doing by the way?"

"Oh, we're doing great," Bobby answered. "Though abuela is super paranoid after hearing about the virus and has been going to extreme lengths to make sure we don't catch it. Even though there hasn't even been one documented case of the virus out here in Great Lakes. What about you? Still haven't gotten back together with your siblings?"

"No," I answered. "They're all off doing their own thing. Lincoln and Lynn are playing superhero, Lana's out living in the woods somewhere, Lisa's become a corporate executive, Luna's acting as her bodyguard, Luan's gone completely crazy, and the others I don't know what they're up to. They could literally be anywhere in the world for all I know. The only one I can say for certain is safe is Lily and that's only because we all agreed to get her away from all this nonsense as soon as it began"

"Don't you ever miss them though?" Bobby asked.

"Well, yeah, of course," I said. "It's just that, we've all gone our separate ways and with the way things are going, it seems like there's no chance of reconciliation. I can't waste my time reminiscing on the past or thinking about what could've been. I've got to keep moving forward and take care of myself."

"But don't you at least worry about your siblings?" Bobby asked. "Like, does it ever bother you when you think about the ones who you don't know where they are? That they could possibly be dead in a ditch somewhere or worse?"

"I try not to think about that," I said. "Don't get me wrong, they're still my family and all of them will always hold a special place in my heart, but if I dwell too much on those thoughts, it'll only make me depressed and weigh me down."

"I guess I can see what you mean," Bobby said. "But if I was separated from Ronnie Anne or any of my cousins and in the end didn't know where they all were, I wouldn't rest until I found them." He giggled and said "I just couldn't imagine my life without them."

"I can imagine at least one sibling of mine doing something similar to find the rest of us," I muttered. "In fact, I'm honestly surprised I haven't crossed paths with any of them yet."

Bobby laughed and said "Who knows? Maybe after you said that, all of your sisters and brothers will come flocking to you"

"I wouldn't count on it," I replied. "Then again, they always have had a habit of annoying me so I wouldn't be surprised if they did just that."

As I walked past an alleyway, Bobby and mine's phone call was interrupted when I felt two pairs of arms wrap around my waist and arm with one hand clamping over my mouth before pulling me into the alleyway. Taken by surprise, I let out a scream before I was roughly tossed onto the ground. Turning around, I saw that my attackers were two thugs, one with red hair and the other with brown. Each of them held a gun in their hands and wore a mean scowl on their face.

"Alright, girlie, we don't want any funny business," The brunette thug said, pointing his pistol directly at me. "This is a simple mugging, just hand over your jewelry, handbag and that phone of yours and we'll let you go without a scratch all nice and easy."

"Lori? Lori!" I could hear Bobby yell on the other end, his voice shaky and scared. As he knew about my powers, I couldn't tell whether he was scared for me or if he was scared that I would lose my temper on the two unwitting criminals trying to rob me. "Are you there? Is everything okay?"

I let out an exasperated sigh and told him "I'll have to call you back," before calmly hanging up and putting my phone in my pocket, an act that ticked off the two muggers.

"Hey, we told you to hand over your phone," said the redhead. "What are you? A stereotypical dumb blonde broad!? Hand it over!"

I took one good look at the criminals before rolling my eyes. I almost felt pity for them. They had no idea who they were messing with. Of course, any almost pity I might've felt went away as soon as they raised their guns and fired a warning shot. After that, I went from being slightly agitated to being pissed off.

"Don't act like you're deaf! Give us your stuff!" The brunette demanded.

I looked them in the eye and said "You poor, poor things"

The thugs were confused until their guns started glowing red hot, causing them to scream and drop their weapons.

"Agh! Son of a-," The redhead exclaimed, blowing on his burning hand.

"Ah, ah, ah, watch your language," I taunted him before igniting my right hand and giving him a scorching smack across his face, causing him to scream in pain and fall to the ground. "Now what was that you said about me being a dumb broad?"

"W-W-We," The brunette stuttered. "We never said anything of the sort"

For his lying, I gave him a scorching slap as well, yelling at him "I know what I heard, dumb*!"

"Come on Reggie, let's get out of here," The redhead said, getting up and picking up his friend before the two of them made a mad dash towards the other end of the alleyway. I was not letting them get away so easily and cut off their path by shooting a fireball, resulting in a wall of flames which prevented them from escaping.

"First you try to mug me and then you force me to hang up on my boyfriend while we were having a wholesome conversation? You couldn't have picked a worse time" I told the two idiots as I slowly approached them, watching them quake in fear with each step I took. "You couldn't have picked a worse time. I have literally had it up to here with this BS!"

"Listen, lady, we're sorry, we're sorry," the brunette apologized, pleading for his life. "Please, just let us go and we promise you'll never see us again!"

"Oh, it's too late for an apology," I told them, lighting up both of my hands and preparing to barbecue these two morons.

Of course, simply immolating them would be too quick. I wanted to drag it out for them a little bit. Quicker than either of them could blink, I closed the distance between us and decked them both in the stomach with my flaming hands, burning a hole clean through their clothes and leaving a nasty burn. I turned my attention to the brunette first, punching him in the face at least five times in rapid succession. The redhead tried saving his friend by grabbing a nearby garbage can and attempting to hit me over the head with. Unfortunately for him, I was able to generate an aura around me hot enough to melt the trash can into a liquified form that scalded the man when it dripped all over his head, neck and part of his torso.

The redhead ran around like a chicken with its head chopped off, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as he tried getting the molten metal off of him. His screams quickly grew irritating so I leg sweeped the brunette's leg out from underneath him and turned to address his partner. I shut up the redhead by kneeing him in the mouth, briefly rendering him unconscious. When I turned back around to deal with brunette, I received a punch to my jaw for my troubles. Not that it hurt me as much as it hurt the brunette in that it gave him a second degree burn on his hand.

"Dumb move," I told him, heating my hand until it was glowing red hot before grabbing him by his throat. The man screamed and squirmed, trying to break my grip, but it was no use.

Before I could finish him off, I heard a voice at the other end of the alley yell "Hey, what's going on here?" Turning my head, I saw that it was some beat cop arriving on the scene.

Almost acting on instinct, I blasted the officer in the face with a fireball, yelling at her "Stay out of this!"

The officer dropped to her knees, moaning in pain and fired off a wild shot at me, missing by a mile. Even though she'd interfered in my business, I decided to spare her my wrath since she was just doing her job. She could consider that burnt face I gave her a warning. Turning around, I saw the brunette trying to crawl to safety while his partner still hadn't moved an inch. Seeing them in such a pathetic state caused my anger to subside slightly. Settling down, I decided to leave before this became an even bigger scene. Not to mention that standing in an alleyway with three unconscious bodies at my feet didn't exactly look good. I delivered one last swift kick to the face of the brunette before calmly walking off.

I was hoping that I could call Bobby back and return to my day of peace. That wasn't meant to be I guess because as I was walking away, a dark portal opened up in front of me. Before I had time to question what was even going on, Lucy and her goth friend emerged from the portal to apparently confront me.

"Wow, I'm still impressed by your empath homing ability," Haiku said to Lucy. "Is it really that easy to find your siblings like that?"

"Yep," Lucy said with a nod. "Especially when they let their emotions flair up and take control as is the case here." She turned to me and said "I'm glad I was able to find you. Quick, there isn't much time, I need you to come with us."

"You show up out of nowhere through some freaky, weird portal and just expect me to follow you without question?" I scoffed. "Yeah, fat chance of that happening." Grabbing my phone, I turned in the opposite direction and told the two girls "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a boyfriend to call."

Lucy used another portal in order to cut me off and reappear right in front of me, saying, "Listen, we're trying to save your life. The least you could do is hear us out."

Tapping my foot impatiently, I told Lucy "Alright, fine. You've got five minutes. Start talking, now."

"It's your sister, Lisa" Haiku explained. "She considers the rest of her siblings a threat to your plans and is currently working on hunting down each and every one of them. That includes you."

"We came here to try and warn you," Lucy continued. "Lisa's already killed Luan as she deemed her to be too big of a threat. With your… temperament, who knows if Lisa suddenly decides that you're too dangerous too?"

"Look, I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself," I told them. "If Lisa wants to come after me, she's more than welcome to." I created a fireball in my hand and said "I'd be more than happy to remind her of who the eldest sister is."

"If you keep burning people like you did to those three, Lisa will be the least of your problems," Haiku said, glancing down the alleyway and to my three unfortunate victims.

"Hey, they had it coming," I defended myself. "They literally wouldn't leave me alone. Well, except for the police officer, she was just doing her job, but still that was self defense so that's besides the point. What else was I supposed to do?"

"I dunno, maybe not leave them scarred for life," Lucy sarcastically suggested, drawing my ire in the process.

"Watch it, you 2nd rate Elvira or I'll fire you up too!" I threatened. Lucy didn't seem intimidated in the slightest and maintained her steely stoic look.

"You'd be lucky if you could even land a single hit on me," Lucy taunted, standing her ground as if daring me to make a move. I obliged her silent challenge, by shooting a fireball at her. The little brat countered by opening up another portal that redirected my fireball and caused it to hit me in the back, stunning me for a few seconds. "Don't even try it, Lori. You I both know that you don't want this fight. It's one you just can't win."

"Oh, we'll see about that, you creepy half pint!" I shouted, using my flames to create a smoke screen that allowed me to sneak up on Lucy and boot her in the face. I turned to face Haiku and yelled at her "Do you want some too!?"

Apparently, she did want some, given how she didn't even allow me to finish my sentence before summon a few rocks from out of the ground and hurling them at my face. I barely managed to put up my arms fast enough to block the attack, but Haiku wasn't finished, encasing her hand in stone and punching me in the face. Her attack sent me flying and crashing hard into the side of a building, but I quickly recovered, hopping up to me feet and firing an explosive burst of flames at her. She shielded herself from the flames, but was still almost knocked off her feet from the force of it.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" I heard Lucy shout, not even having time to react accordingly before she wrapped a metal street lamp around me, trying to tie me up.

Raising my body temperature, I once again created a flaming aura hot enough to burn through and melt the steel composing the lamp. These brats were really starting to tick me off, which I expressed by throwing a series of fireballs at them. Lucy used the same trick as before, attempting to use portals to redirect them at me. This time however, I was one step ahead and positioned myself so that when Lucy redirected them, she'd still be in the line of fire and all I'd have to do was dodge. My strategy was flawless in theory as I dodged my own fireballs allowing them to fly straight towards Lucy.

Lucy and Haiku were one step ahead of me however, with Lucy using her telekinesis to stop the fireballs dead in their tracks and Haiku summoning more rocks from the asphalt and igniting them with my flames. To top it all off, Haiku then sent the flaming rocks flying right towards me. I had to give the two of them credit, they were pretty smart when it came to their battle strategies. Maybe winning this fight wasn't going to be as easy as I expected. Anyway, I dodged as many of the rocks as I could with most of them whizzing past me while a few struck me in my left arm, hip and my chest, which knocked the wind out of me and brought me to one knee. While I was kneeling, Lucy tried restraining me using some old discarded tires that were in the dumpster from the alleyway.

Having had the wind knocked out of me, I was briefly stunned to the point where I couldn't use my powers. Lucy and Haiku were cautious to approach me and rightfully so. As soon as I regained my composure, they were as good as dead meat. After shaking my head clear of the cobwebs, I melted through the tires as well and staggered back up to my feet. The first thing awaiting me once I was back up was a double punch to the face from the pair. Although their hit rocked me, it also left them with scorch marks on their fists as a result of my aura, causing them to grab their hands.

By now, our fighting had attracted a crowd, prompting me to yell at them "And what are all of you looking at!?"

That was all it took to get them to scatter like roaches when the lights came on. I made the mistake of taking my eyes off Lucy and Haiku however, allowing them to land another attack on me that knocked me off my feet. Lashing out in anger, I lunged at Lucy, moving faster than she could comprehend and grabbing her by her head before throwing her into a parked car, shattering the car's windshield in the process. That knocked out Lucy for the moment, but it also had the unintended side effect of pissing Haiku off.

I barely had a chance to celebrate neutralizing her before Haiku descended on me like a hawk. She encased her fists in stone and began whaling on me, punching me in the face, opening a gash above my eye in the process and leaving my face bloodied and bruised. After a few seconds of non stop punching, I was able to grab her and throw her to the side but the damage had been done. Her rock hard punches had left me quite disoriented and struggling to stay on my feet without collapsing. Fortunately, Haiku left me alone for a couple of minutes to tend to Lucy, allowing me to catch my breath and get my bearings back.

Once I did, I struck while I had the opportunity, blasting Haiku in the back with a fire blast. This time it was Lucy's turn to get angry, although I never would've guessed it since she kept the same expression on her face.. Instead of throwing rocks at me however, she telekinetically tossed entire cars at me. Creating a blade made of pure flames in my hands, I sliced clean through each vehicle she threw my way. Eventually, she grew tired of hurling cars at me and grabbed a hold of my entire body and yanking me towards her. As soon as I was close enough, she clobbered me with a vicious right hand to my jaw.

"Give it up, Lori" Lucy said as I slid across the ground. "I told you that this is a fight you can't win. Now will you please calm down and just listen to us for a minute? We're trying to help you."

"As if I would give up and surrender to my little sister," I retorted. "So what if Lisa is after me? Like I said, I can take care of myself."

"I can understand your reluctance," Lucy told me. "At first, I wasn't completely sold on the idea of all of us gathering together, but Lisa has practically the entire city as well as a robot army on her side. If she was able to capture Lana despite her powerful abilities, I have little doubt she's capable of picking us off one by one if we don't stick together." I was prepared to send a fireball directly into her face before she pulled out a line I didn't expect and said "Not to mention that I… kinda miss you"

Hearing her say that struck something within me. My anger subsided as I let her words sink in and took a chance to think about them. Just a few minutes prior, I had been discussing family with Bobby and the possibility of seeing my siblings again. At the time, it seemed like nothing more than wishful thinking, but now I had the chance to actually reconcile with them. Maybe this was a sign of some sort. After all, what was the worst that could happen from listening to Lucy? It's not like I had anything to lose.

I turned to Lucy and told her "Alright, alright, I'll hear you out, but again, you've got five minutes." Before she spoke, I added "And one more thing: this is not me admitting defeat and even if it was, the only reason you were winning is because there were two of you and only one of me."

"I know that we didn't always get along," Lucy started. "But right now, we need to rely on each other now more than ever before. Currently, Lincoln, Lynn, Lio, and I are using my cave as a hideout. It's the perfect place to lay low and it ensures that Lisa won't be able to find us any time soon. Besides… it would be kinda cool to have you around again, even if all you did was talk on the phone to Bobby."

Trying to save face, I huffed and said "Fine, maybe I will join you guys." I crossed my arms and said "But it's not because I need you dweebs to protect me or anything."

"Well, well, well, what have we here?" We heard someone ask. Turning around, we were stunned to see our Luna standing before us. "Here I was being sent to retrieve one sister, only to find a two for one special. It must be my lucky day or something."

"What is this!?" I asked, a little fed up with my younger siblings just randomly dropping in. "Are all of you just going to pop up out of nowhere today?!"

"Come on, Lori, is that anyway to greet your family?" Luna teased. "Now listen, I take just as much joy in this as you do, but the two of you can make things easy and surrender peacefully… or we can throw down like we did in the past. The choice is yours."

I looked at Lucy and asked "Is She part of your group too?"

"Nope," Lucy said, shaking her head. "I think the others mentioned something about her working for Lisa."

"Well that's just great," I muttered. "I literally can't even have a day to myself without some sort of shenanigans happening." I turned to Luna and told her "Listen, I don't know what type of deal you Lisa have worked out, but the last thing I have on my mind is spending my days locked up in her creepy laboratory or whatever it is she has planned for me."

"They never do wanna make it easy, do they?" Luna muttered to herself before launching an icicle at me and throwing a roundhouse kick at Lucy. "It's nothing personal, luv. I'm just doing what I need to do to ensure someone I care about survives."

Catching the icicle in my hand and melting it, I returned fire (no pun intended) with a fireball and replied with "I don't care what your reasons are, I'm not going with you."

"Luna, listen to me," Lucy tried talking some sense into her. "I know that you're doing all this for Sam's safety, but there's a better way to go about-,"

Luna refused to listen and instead tried attacking Lucy with an ice blast. "Yeah, right! As if any of you are capable of curing the virus." She scoffed. "Lisa might be a little shady, but at least she knows what she's doing. I can trust and have faith in her to find an end to this bs!"

"That's just the thing," Lucy tried telling her. "Lisa isn't trustworthy in the slightest. As soon as you've done what she's asked, she'll-," Once again, she was cut off by Luna.

"Save it," Luna snarled. "Just because you don't have anyone to fight for, doesn't mean the rest of us are as lucky. I have no choice but to help her!"

"I guess since talking with you isn't going to work, we'll just have to settle this the old fashioned way!" I said, running at Luna and attempting to knock her out with a fiery punch to the face.

Luna didn't seem phased by attempt and for good reason too as the very instance my flaming fist connected with her face, my flames were automatically extinguished and my hand was frozen in ice. Luna didn't even so much as flinch and in fact, she laughed at my efforts before encasing her own fist in ice and sending me flying backwards with a punch.

"Nice try, but my ice powers are the perfect counter to your fire powers," Luna took a second to gloat. "No matter how hard you try, you can't even lay a finger on me."

Luna was so busy gloating that she left herself wide open to a drop kick from Lucy that dropped her to the ground. "Maybe she can't, but I can," Lucy said stoically.

"Um, think again sis" Luna retorted, pointing down at Lucy's leg and revealing that it had been encased in ice as well. "Give it up, will ya? I can counter whatever attack you throw at me. Just do us all a favor and make things easy for us."

"Forget it, that's not happening!" I retorted, melting the ice around both my hand and Lucy's leg and gearing up for another attack.

Luna was seriously underestimating my abilities. My flames could reach unfathomable temperatures meaning that it didn't matter how cold her ice was, I could melt through it. Then again, given just how thick her ice was, there was still a chance that it could prove troublesome. There was only one way to find out though. Heating myself up, I brought up my flaming aura once again and pounced at Luna, throwing punch after punch. Luna encased her arms in ice and generated her own freezing aura to counteract my abilities, resulting in a cloud of steam arising when our fists collided with each other.

It seemed that both of us had forgotten about Lucy, who shouted "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" And sent a dumpster crashing hard into Luna, causing her to rag doll hard onto the ground.

Luna came to play and wasn't going to be defeated by such a simple attack. She rolled out of the way of a stomp from me and kicked my leg out from under me, sending me tumbling to the ground. In the same breath, she turned towards Lucy and threw a volley of icicles at her. Just as I expected her to do, Lucy opened up a portal that redirected the icicles towards Luna. Luna ducked out of the way of all except one, which slashed her forearm. I took advantage by blasting her in the chest with flames, propelling Luna backwards and against a small billboard. Luna retaliated by bouncing back and using the billboard as a launching pad to tackle me to the ground. Our conflicting protective auras created another cloud of steam, but in the confusion, I was able to use my legs monkey flip her onto her back.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" We heard Lucy yell. Luna looked up and was instantly smacked in the face by the small billboard she had been knocked into.

Luna managed to roll through and land on her feet and counter attacked by throwing a snowball into Lucy's face, briefly blinding Lucy. Luna took advantage by uppercutting her in the chin, grabbing her by her leg and smashing her into the ground. I tried to blindside her with a punch of my own, but Luna blocked my fist with her ice. I tried turning up the heat and forcing my hand through her defenses, but Luna's I've held strong. Luna swing low and kicked me below the belt, causing me to double over in pain before she encased her foot in ice and kicked me in the face with such force that it caused me to backflip.

"Wow, look at all the destruction you've caused," Luna said, taking a moment to catch her breath while both Lucy and I were down. "I question her methods, but maybe Lisa was right when she said you guys were too dangerous to be left to walk the streets."

She walked over to Lucy, a metallic collar in her hand. Lucy was disoriented and too dazed to defend herself. Before Luna got the chance to put the collar around her neck, she was hit in the back by a series of rocks.

"What the!?" Luna exclaimed, taking the words out of my mouth as we both looked over and saw Haiku, having finally awakened after I'd knocked her out and fully prepared for a fight. I had completely forgotten about Haiku's presence and Luna wasn't even aware that she was here.

"You're dead wrong if you think I'll let you kidnap my friend," Haiku said stoically. She then used her Earth bending powers to trap Luna in a boulder from the neck down.

"This is impossible!" Luna said, apparently recognizing Haiku. "You're Lucy's friend, but last I heard, you were comastricken in the hospital with the virus. That was a mere three days ago, yet here you are, perfectly healthy and with no signs of illness. Not only that, but you have powers of your own!? How!?"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you," Lucy said, slowly standing to her feet, "You don't need to depend on Lisa for the cure. There's someone close to home who has the ability to cure the virus."

"But the only person I know who could possibly do that is…" Luna said, slowly coming to realize who the girls were talking about. "Our brother…"

"That's right," Haiku said. "Your brother was the one who cured my affliction. If it weren't for his intervention, I might've ended up as the main course for the Conqueror Worm."

"So Lio can cure the virus?" I thought to myself. This information might actually prove useful to me. With this ability, I might be able to actually reunite with Bobby without having to fear accidentally infecting him. Suddenly, I had more of an incentive to meet up with my siblings again.

"In that case, I might have to pay him a visit," Luna said, sounding desperate. "Lisa's not going to be too happy about this development"

"You don't have to do that," Lucy said. "You can join our side and leave Lisa behind. We can cure Sam on our own without her."

"I wish I could," Luna said, shaking her head. "But I can't just walk away without Lisa getting suspicious. And if Lisa finds out about my betrayal…" She paused and had a distraught look on her face. "Then I may never see Sam again."

"We can help you with that," Haiku offered, releasing Luna from her stony prison.

"I can't take that chance," Luna said. She made no attempts at attacking any of us and simply stood around kicking up dust. She lowered her icy aura and paced back and forth, assumingly debating what she should do. "Don't think that we won't see each other again though. As soon as this is all over, maybe we can meet again under proper circumstances."

With that, Luna turned and walked away, paying us no mind whatsoever. If I wanted to, I could've lit her hair on fire for all the trouble she'd given us. I was in a more pleasant mood however, thus I let her walk away.

As soon as she was gone, I turned to Lucy and Haiku and asked them "So that's how you got your powers, huh?"

Haiku nodded and said "I still don't know all the exact details. All I remember is waking up and discovering these new abilities."

"So what do you say, Lori?" Lucy asked me. "Still reluctant to join the rest of us?"

I sighed and said "No. Call it a sudden change of heart, but I suddenly want to see all your faces again."

"Then follow me," Lucy said, opening up another portal in front of us. "We might wanna get out of here before the police arrive and start asking questions. This looks bad enough as it is."

"Hold the portal open for a minute," I told her. "I have something I need to do real quick"

"There's no time to wait! Let's go!" Haiku said, she Lucy grabbing and pulling me through the portal.

In an instant, I found myself standing in a cave of some sort. While it had plenty of modern technology and renovations, it still wasn't exactly the secret base I was expecting. Better than nothing, I supposed.

"Go ahead and call Bobby" Lucy told me. "We won't make a peep."

"Well that's what I was about to do before you yanked me through your little portal!" I feigned anger. The girls shrugged and turned away as I pulled out my phone and dialed Bobby's number. "Hello, Bobby? Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," Bobby answered. "Is everything alright, babe? I got kinda nervous after you just suddenly hung up like that."

"Yeah, everything is fine," I told him. I then smiled and said "So remember that talk we were having about our families…"

END ISSUE 9


	10. Issue 10: Lening On Your Friends

Sometimes I find it hard to believe just how much time has passed since I got these powers. It still feels like it was just yesterday that I received them. And sure, gaining them came at a heavy price, but I'd be lying if I said they didn't make my life any easier. For someone like me, that's a blessing in plain sight. You see, I'm not exactly the brightest person you'll meet. I kinda have a reputation for being the "dumb blonde" stereotype. Of course, there's more to me than just being an airhead. There's no prison I couldn't escape from and when I really put my mind to it, there's no problem I can't solve. It helps that thanks to my powers, I can literally create energy constructs of anything I imagine in my head.

With but a thought, I can create things such as a sword, mace, or even a bow and arrow to defend myself. It has its mundane uses as well such as making an actual functioning clock to keep track of time or creating a mirror for me to look at myself in (gotta make sure I look my best, you know) or in some cases, using them to create a key in case I locked myself out of my apartment with the keys inside (something that has happened more times than I care to admit). I suppose it was these abilities that caught the attention of a group known as the Star Sapphires. They had similar powers to mine, except they could only use them while wearing pink power rings.

I don't exactly recall how I met them, all I know is that they came to me and tried to recruit me to their cause. They revealed that they were one of seven Corps empowered by a specific color of the emotional spectrum with their color being violet. They offered to let me join them, which I politely declined. Joining them would mean I'd likely have to spend a long amount of time away from Earth on a planet called Oa. I couldn't do that. That would mean leaving not only my family behind, but my friends as well: Jackie, Mandee, Miguel, Fiona and of course my boyfriend, Chaz. I couldn't dream of abandoning them for anything in the world.

Fortunately for me, the Star Sapphires were very understanding of my plight. Though I didn't join their cause, they still offered me some guidance when it came to better using my powers. Since my natural abilities and the powers of their rings were very similar (to the point that they were practically the same), they were able to give me some great pointers. Of course, that's not to say I didn't learn a few more facts from them. They were very eager to spill some secrets of the universe with me. They also gave me a communicator that I could use to call them at any given moment should I ever need their assistance as well as a teleporter in case I needed to come to them.

That has been quite some time ago and the Star Sapphires had long since returned into outer space, but the things they had taught me lead me to having much more control over my power. Afterwards, I did my best to go back to having a normal life. Well, about as normal a life as one could have after gaining superpowers and learning of the existence of aliens and other such stuff. Most of my days I spent going about my daily routine, working at my job, hanging out with friends when I had the time… and wondering what happened to my family. With Lincoln and Lynn, it was clear what they were doing with their lives nowadays, but for Lola, Lori, Lucy and the others, their fates were a mystery to me and I couldn't help but worry about them even though I did my best to keep up with them. Then, in what I guess was a cosmic stroke of luck or just plain coincidence, I learned what became of three of my sisters. I was walking through the mall, past an electronics store, when I heard a sudden news broadcast.

"Breaking news: A wild chaotic brawl between four superpowered individuals breaks out near a residential area," I heard a news anchor say. For some reason, that grabbed my immediate attention and I stopped in front of the TV screen to get a better view. As I did, the news reporters pulled up pictures of my sisters Lori, Luna, and Lucy as well as Lucy's friend Haiku. "Witnesses say the fight started after the blonde seen here apparently assaulted two would be muggers as well as a police officer. The two young kids tried calming her down, but that only escalated the situation before another teen eventually got involved."

"Wait, why would Luna get involved?" I asked myself. "Did the others do something to upset her, is that what happened? Maybe they broke one of her guitar strings or something, I don't know."  
"Paxton Industries executive, Lisa Loud, recently renowned for her security androids units as well as orchestrating the takedown of The Joker had this to say on the matter" The newswoman said before cutting to a clip of Lisa.

"It is disgraceful that individuals with such abilities would use them in a harmful, dangerous, and destructive manner," Lisa said. "It is even more disgraceful that 3 of the individuals are my sisters. Especially with the news that a valuable member of our law enforcement was injured thanks to the actions of my eldest sister. I can only express the utmost relief at the fact that no one else was seriously injured during their fracas. For vested interest and safety of Royal Woods, I kindly ask that the participants in this incident turn themselves immediately. Though you are my sisters, I make an impassioned plea for you to do the right thing and spare yourself the trouble of making me come after you myself."

The newscast cut back to the anchor, who sat at her desk nodding in agreement. "In addition to calling out her sisters, Miss Loud announced that development of a cure for the virus is nearly complete and that Paxton shall release it very soon in the near future."

Man, Lisa really seemed to be on her game with all the good she was doing. I was impressed with what she was doing. At the same time however, I was having a hard time believing that the same sisters I'd grown up with were now causing trouble. I debated whether I should try going after them and talking some sense into them. Maybe I should go to Lisa and ask what she thought? She always was the smart one and she could probably give me advice on how to handle this whole thing.

I was so put off by what I'd just seen and heard that I had forgotten why I had even come to the mall in the first place. Hopefully, it wasn't for anything important. As I left the mall and headed back to the apartment I shared with Jackee, I couldn't help but ponder the what had become of the rest of my family. Were they sinister villains to? Or were they like Lincoln, Lynn, and Lisa in that they were trying to help people.

While I did my best to keep from assuming the worst, I walked past two kids playing at a playground. Seeing them play with each other made me smile a little and brought up some very happy memories. Particularly, memories of the hours I'd spend at the playground with Lincoln when he was little. Or, in more recent times, bringing Lily here to have fun while our parents were busy. Those were fun times all around. For a few minutes, I just watched the kids play tag with each other, chasing each other around and laughing while doing so. Everything was fine until I random teenager suddenly walked up to the children and pushed them to the ground. The guy demanded that they hand over whatever change they had while the kids cried for help.

Seeing that made my blood boil so I jumped into action. Or at least, I would have if Lynn hadn't suddenly shown up and beat me to the punch. With one hard punch, Lynn knocked the bully to the ground, even knocking out a tooth in the process. While she was doing that, I tended to the children, helping them up off the ground and using my powers to pick some flowers to help cheer them up.

"So you wanna play hero, huh?" The bully asked, wiping blood from his lip. "Well let's see how you like this!" With that, the bully's pupils split open in a grotesque display before he fired laser beams from his eyes. Lynn took the heat vision head on without even flinching and even yawned in his face to taunt him, enraging him further. "Oh, so now you're showing off? Let's see if you're fast enough to protect this blonde dummy over here!"

The bully quickly turned towards me and in less than a split second, fired another pair of eye beams at my head. I wasn't worried at all and with my own quick reaction time, I created a mirror that reflected the laser beams right back at the bully and sent them straight through his head. Apparently, he wasn't immune to his own powers as he immediately collapsed to the ground in a heap. I was thankful that the children were occupied with the flowers and hadn't seen the exact moment the heat rays pierced his skull as it was a gruesome sight.

"Oh my god!" I exclaimed upon seeing it happen, taking extra precaution to make sure the children didn't see the aftermath. I didn't want the little ones to be scarred for life, you know.

Lynn brushed it off, saying "He'll be fine, I can hear his heartbeat, breathing and pulse loud and clear. He's only unconscious." We both took a good look at the knocked out young man before Lynn said "Fancy meeting you here, how's it going, sis?"

"It's going… alright, I guess," I replied. "Just that… I didn't expect to have a run in with a jerk like this guy today. I didn't expect to see you

either." I smiled and said "Coincidentally enough, I was just thinking about you"

"How odd, Lincoln and I were just looking for you and the others," Lynn told me. "Looks like my job has been made a heck of a lot easier."

"Wait, why were you looking for me?" I asked, confused as to why Lynn and Lincoln would be searching for me. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Lynn answered quickly. "Far from it. If what you did to that bully and for those kids is any indication, you've done quite good." Lynn chuckled before saying "The real reason we were looking for you involves Lisa."

"Lisa?" I asked. "Isn't it great all the things she's doing for Royal Woods? Not only is she trying to bring down crime, but she's creating a cure for the virus too!"

"Don't be fooled by her supposed goodie two shoes act," Lynn warned me, prompting me to ask "Huh?". Lynn then explained. "Lisa has nothing but malevolent intentions. She's dedicated her time to hunting down each and every one of her siblings to try locking them up."

"How is that a bad thing?" I asked. "If our other sisters are acting the same way Luna, Lucy, and Lori are acting then it's no wonder she's going after them. They're dangerous and need to be stopped."

"So by that logic that means you need to be stopped as well, right?" Lynn retorted, confusing me yet again.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Lisa doesn't care if you're using your powers for good or evil or not," Lynn told me. "She's marked all of us as being a threat to her plans and won't stop until we're captured. She came close to killing Lana and actually did kill Luan. Who knows what other measures she'll resort to in order to catch us?" That caught me by surprise.

"Wait, she tried to kill Lana and Luan?" I asked. I knew that they weren't the same after they got their powers and had somewhat lost their moral compass, but I didn't expect Lisa to go to such lengths as to try and kill them. "Are you sure this isn't some kind of misunderstanding?"

"There's no misunderstanding about this," Lynn said, shaking her head. "And that whole thing about curing the virus, even that comes with a catch. What Lisa really plans on doing is using the cure to brainwash people and turn them into her mindless servants. Her so called good intentions are nothing more than an attempt for her to gain more power."

"No, I can't believe that," I said. "That's some serious mad scientist type of stuff. Lisa wouldn't do that, would she?"

"She would," Lynn answered, sadly nodding her head. "I even heard her say that she plans on deliberately spreading the virus to other areas just so she could use her bogus cure to brainwash even more people. Take it from me, Lisa can't be trusted."

"B-But… how could she pull off something like this?" I asked. "It doesn't make any sense. I don't understand it at all."

I expected Lynn to snarkily reply with something like "You don't understand a lot of things, Leni", but instead she supportively patted me on the back and said "Lisa's really, really smart, you've gotta remember that. She's capable of pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. That's what makes her so dangerous."

"So what're we going to do?" I asked her. "How are we going to stop her?"

"Right now, I don't know," Lynn said. "Personally, I'd like to go for an all out straightforward attack on her, but Lincoln says that that isn't an option. He says that thanks to the positive press she's garnered, there's no way we can just flat out assault her without being vilified. And Lisa knows that. She's truly thought of everything."

"Speaking of Linc, he has a plan, right?" I asked. "He has to have a plan. He's always had a plan for any given situation."

"Unfortunately, for a situation like this, he doesn't," Lynn answered. "We've been trying hard to think of what to do, but there's seemingly no way out." Lynn sighed and said "If we had been able to convince Luan to join our side in time, we could've used her invisibility to sneak inside her lab and destroy her research. I guess that just wasn't meant to be."

"Man, things are so messed up right now," I lamented, watching the children resume their game.

"That's a huge understatement," Lynn said before letting out a humorless chuckle and saying "You know, I hate to admit this, but I'm actually kind of scared right now. Everything is so warped and none of us know what's going to happen next. Even though I'm practically invincible, I feel really helpless right now." I didn't know what to say, so I let her keep talking. "You know, in other situations like this, I could always turn to him for advice. He'd always know what to say to cheer me up."

"He?" I asked, confused as to who she was referring to until I thought about it for a while. "Are you? Are you talking about Chris?"

Lynn smiled, nodded and said "Yeah. I mean, you're lucky to still have Chaz in your life." She sighed and said "It's just that, it seems like things would be so much easier right now if Chris were here with me right now. If I knew what actually happened to him."

"What do you mean?" I asked, not having the slightest clue as to what she was talking about.

"Shortly after this whole virus outbreak thing started, Chris just up and disappeared," Lynn explains. "Like, he just vanished into thin air and no one seems to know what happened to him."

"I know what happened to him," I revealed to her.

"You do!?" Lynn asked me, sounding desperate before she grabbed me by my collar. "Please don't tell me you're just pulling my leg or anything! Do you really know what happened to him!?"

"Are you seriously telling me that you don't?" I asked her. She shook her head and I remarked, "That's odd. I thought you would've been the first person he told."

"Leni, I need you to tell me: Do you know where Chris is right now?" Lynn asked, tears forming in her eyes. Her showing vulnerability, yet alone crying in front of someone else was really uncharacteristic of her. At that moment, I knew that she was dead serious. "You don't understand how much I need to know the answer to this question."

"I can do more than tell you where he is," I told her. "I can actually take you to him if you'd lik-,"

"YES!" Lynn answered before I even had a chance to finish my sentence.

"Alright, alright, I'll take you," I said before asking, "Real quick: you can breathe in space, right?"

"I-I don't know," Lynn replied before shrugging and saying, "I never really had a chance or reason to test it out."

"Well, in that case," I said before using my powers to encapsulate us within a giant pink bubble. "This should protect us from suffocating in space" I then warned her "Now, you might wanna hold on tight. We're going to be moving way faster than the speed of light to get where we're going. Think you can handle that?"

"There's nothing that I can't handle," Lynn stated confidently. "Especially at a time like this. Now come on, let's go, go, go!"

"Okay," I said, nodding my head before pulling out the teleporter the Star Sapphires had given me. With a simple push of a button, Lynn and I were instantly teleported to the planet of Oa, the home of the Green Lanterns located in the center of the universe. "Well, here we are!" I proclaimed as we touched down on the planet.

"Where exactly is here?" Lynn asked, taking a look around.

"Oh, this is the planet Oa," I explained. "This planet is the headquarters for a group known as the Green Lantern Corps. There are other groups based off of other colors, but they all have their own planets where they operate."

"And you're telling me that this is where Chris has been all this time?" Lynn asked. "This barren desert wasteland of a planet?"

"Well, there's more to this place than just desert," I said to Lynn, taking to the sky and encouraging her to fly after me. "The place we're looking for is the Guardians' City. It houses the Corp Central Battery, the thing that powers all Green Lantern rings,"

"Huh, Green Lanterns?" Lynn questioned. "I wouldn't expect Chris to be a member of their ranks."

"Oh, he isn't," I told her. "He's actually part of a group known as the Blue Lanterns Corps. I think one of the Star Sapphires mentioned their central planet as being named Odym or Elpis or something. Then again, I think they might've also said something about it being destroyed outright, I don't really know. All I know is that when I saw Chris, this is where he was."

"Why?" Lynn asked.

"I don't know," I said. "I just know that I caught a glimpse of him while visiting with the Star Sapphires"

Lynn and I reached the Guardians' City rather quickly, where we were accosted by two Green Lanterns upon arrival. Well actually, it was more like they locked us in a cage created by their rings as soon as they saw us before asking questions.

"You two seem pretty unfamiliar," the first Lantern said. "And you're sure as heck aren't lanterns, which causes me to question what you're even doing here in the first place?"

"Um…" Lynn tried to think of an excuse before I cut her off and flat out explained "We're here to look for a friend of ours."

"A friend?" The first one asks, prompting the second one to say, "Don't fall for it, this could easily be a trick! A trap set up so that they can infiltrate our planet and lower our defenses so that we're vulnerable to an attack!"

"It's the truth, we swear!" Lynn said, with that desperate tone returning to her voice. "We wouldn't be here if we weren't, but my sister says that my friend is here and I'll do anything to find him. Please, you have to believe us."

The first one showed compassion and decided to hear us out, while the second one showed us nothing but contempt and skepticism, asking, "What would your friend even be doing here in the first place?"

"He's a Blue Lantern," I explained. "Normally, he wouldn't be here, but he's been working alongside one of your members for the past few months,"

"A Blue Lantern?" The second one scoffed. "Now I know for a fact you're lying! What would a Blue Lantern be doing here in the first place?" He asked before his partner cut him off.

"If it's not too much trouble to ask, do you mind telling us you're friend's name?" The first Lantern asked.

"His name is Chris," Lynn answered quickly. "Christopher Alexander Taylor Jr."

Upon hearing Chris' name, the two Lanterns both looked at each other, a solemn look in their eyes. Lynn and I both picked up on their expressions and knew that that wasn't a good sign. Looking at Lynn, I could've sworn I physically saw her heart sink into her stomach. She had a look as if she wanted to break down and cry before regaining her normal never give up, show no weakness headstrong expression less than a split second later. There are a few seconds of silence before finally the first Lantern speaks up.

"I presume that you two are from Earth, correct?" He asked us. We nodded our heads and he said "I thought as much. We can confirm that your friend is indeed here, but right now he's in the infirmary. Please come with us."

The two Lanterns released us from the cage and gestures for us to follow them. The second Lantern still seemed distrustful, but nevertheless allowed us passage. To be fair to him, if two strange people popped up from out of nowhere on the citadel planet of your organization, I'd be rather weary too. While I had been here before with the Star Sapphires, I hadn't seen too much of the city. Now though, Lynn and I were getting a pretty good view of this place. One thing that stood out to the two of us was a seeming restaurant by the name of Warriors. From the looks of it, the place even served Earth food rather than alien cuisine.

"Hey, maybe after this is all over we can stop by that place for a bite to eat," I suggested jokingly, gently nudging Lynn with my elbow.

"Hmm?" Lynn grunted, having a glazed, faraway look in the eyes. "Oh yeah, whatever"

I didn't know if she was ignoring me or if she was just caught up in her own world. I knew that she was worried about Chris, especially after hearing that he was in the infirmary. That news alone must've shattered her heart. Neither of us spoke another word as the Lanterns guided us along to the hospital. I wanted to ask just why Chris was injured in the first place, but I had a feeling that neither of the Lantern would exactly tell us. Finally, arrived at the hospital and were taken to a small room.

"Alright, you're friend is right in here," The first Lantern said. "He's in stable condition, but you should still proceed with caution."

As he turned and walked away, his partner grabbed his shoulder and asked "We aren't actually going to leave these two strangers alone with him, are we? For all we know, they could be here on a mission to assassinate him."

"While I agree that we don't know the exact motives of these two, I have full faith that these Earthlings come here with the most benevolent of intentions," The first Lantern said. "They will do him no harm, I am sure of it."

The second Lantern huffed and followed his partner, leaving us alone. Lynn took a deep breath before opening the door and walking inside. We saw Chris lying on a bed, his right arm in a sling and his torso taped up and wearing a Blue Lantern uniform. He seemed just as surprised to see us as we were to see him.

"Chris?" Lynn asked, sounding unsure if she was actually seeing what was in front of her.

"Lynn?" He asked. "Leni?"

Lynn walked over to Chris and overcome by emotions, slapped him across the face. By this point, she was unable to contain her emotions and was openly crying with tears streaming down her face. "You've been alive this whole time and you didn't think to let me know?!"

"Lynn, wait, it's not what you think!" Chris defended himself. "Please, just hear me ou-,"

"For the past 6 months, I've been searching endlessly for you!" Lynn yelled at him. "Endlessly worrying about you! Not knowing what had happened to you! Not knowing whether you were dead or alive or had been kidnapped by someone! I looked everywhere, yet you've been here this entire time!?"

"No, I-," Chris stammered. "Listen, just try and listen to me first please. I mean, how did you even know I was here?"

"Oh, that was me," I said, raising my hand. "The Star Sapphires took me on a tour of the universe a few months ago and when they came here, I saw you hanging out with some dude with black hair. I knew that it couldn't be anyone but you"

"Oh? So you made some new friends while you were hiding from everyone?" Lynn questioned. "Did our relationship really mean so little to you that you could just up and abandon me like that?" She wiped tears from her eyes, but they were quickly replaced by more. "Were you so scared that you couldn't even tell me to my face that you were leaving?"

"It's nothing like that, I promise," Chris said, grabbing Lynn's hand and looking her in the eyes, getting her to calm down. "I would never dream of leaving you behind without good reason. I didn't want to leave you in the first place."

"Then why did you?" Lynn asked him.

"Allow me to explain," Chris said. "You're probably going to hate me for this, but I'm partially responsible for the virus outbreak in Royal Woods."

"What?" Lynn and I asked, both dumbfounded.

"The Virus didn't originate from Earth," Chris explained. "I don't think that's much of a shocker. Anyway, the virus originated from a small asteroid that was floating through space" Chris looked at me and said "That 'strange black haired guy' you saw me with was named Kyle Rayner, a Green Lantern I'd been working with to help supplement my blue power ring. He and I had been tasked with making sure the virus didn't spread to other planets as it was capable of wiping out all life on any given planet in a single afternoon." Chris sighed and said "We destroyed the asteroid, but somehow we missed a small fragment that was heading towards Earth…"

"Wait a second," I interjected. "If you and this Kyle guy were so close to the virus, why weren't either of you infected?"

"Because of our rings," Chris replied. "They grant us immunity from most forms of diseases and this virus was no exception."

"Oh," I said, sitting down and allowing Chris to continue telling his story.

"Anyway, we missed a small fragment of the asteroid that made its way to Earth and didn't notice until it was too late," Chris continued. "As you guessed, that fragment landed in Royal Woods and led to the devastating outbreak that killed so many people." Tears formed in Chris' eyes as he looked away from us. "Your parents would likely still be alive if we had done our job right. You have every right to hate me right now."

Her anger somewhat subsiding, Lynn placed a hand on his shoulder in support and said "But I don't hate you. I could never hate you. I'm just wondering why you disappeared the way you did."

"Since we had somewhat botched our original mission, Kyle took it upon ourselves to ensure that the virus didn't spread to other areas," Chris said. "It took us 3 grueling months, but we managed to get it under control and prevent it from spreading outside Royal Woods."

"Wait, 3 months?" Lynn asked. "Only 3? You've been gone for over half a year? What happened to the you for the other 3 months?"

"Well, that's where things get complicated," Chris said. "Kyle and I found out that the virus we were dealing with wasn't entirely organic."

"What does that mean?" I asked, still not entirely caught up with what he was saying.

"I don't know how to explain it properly, but basically the virus isn't entirely natural," Chris said. "It was changed and modified to be more lethal to whoever carried, basically a biological weapon." Chris looked at us and said "Scratch that, it WAS a biological weapon, created by an alien warlord by the name of Katanza. When Kyle and I were made aware of this fact, we were assigned with arresting him. That meant having to find him first, which meant having to leave Earth unfortunately…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lynn asked. "You could've at least popped in and told me why you had to leave."

"Because… for one, I felt I had already done enough damage to you and your family," Chris said, tenderly grabbing Lynn's hands and looking her in the eyes. "And two, because I knew that if I told you the true reason for my departure, you'd try to tag along with me and I could NEVER justify putting you in such a dangerous situation." Lynn opened her mouth to object, but Chris knew what she was thinking and said "Come on, I know you like the back of my hand. Are you telling me that you would voluntarily let me go off to fight some powerful alien?"

"Well, no, but…" Lynn said, briefly looking away. "But I still could've lent you guys a helping hand. I mean, have you seen my powers? With me at your guys' side, that Katanza or Tanzania or Katalogue or whatever his name was wouldn't have stood a chance! He probably would've broken down into tears upon seeing my awesomeness!"

The two shared a laugh before Chris became serious again and said "Lynn, Katanza is the reason I'm in this place in the first place. He's stronger and more powerful than you can possibly imagine."

"What are you saying?" Lynn asked, sounding insulted.

"Nothing," Chris said with a laugh. "I have no doubt you could've taken the guy, but I'm not much of a gambler, especially when it comes to the lives of others. Doubly so when it comes to the life of the girl I love most. If something happened to you, I could never forgive myself for putting you in that situation."

I couldn't help but coo and wipe a tear from my eye, exclaiming "Awwww, this is just so cute!"

"So what do you say?" Chris asked Lynn. "I know I kinda just upped and disappeared on you without notice, but do you think you can forgive me?"

Lynn huffed, sighed and looked away before suddenly turning around and giving Chris a huge hug, saying "Of course I can forgive you! I just got you back, do you really think I'd throw you away or something?"

"Ow, Ow, ow!" Chris exclaimed, Lynn's hug apparently aggravating his injuries.

"Oops sorry," Lynn said, releasing her grip before the two looked at each other and blushed. "Now, come on, let's go."

"Go where?" Chris asked.

"Back to Royal Woods, duh," Lynn exclaimed. "Like I said, I just got you back, do you really think that I'm going to leave you here on some alien planet?"

"I don't know if I'm in any condition to leave with my injuries," Chris said.

"Don't worry about that," Lynn said, gently picking Chris up and carrying him bridal style. "We've got someone on Earth who can fix you right up!"

"But-," Chris tried to object, but Lynn was having none of it.

"Hey, no buts," Lynn said. "Just because I forgive you, doesn't mean I'm not still a little mad at you. Good reason or not, you still left me behind without saying goodbye. So come on, we're going back to Earth."

I chuckled as I opened the door for the two of them, Lynn still carrying Chris bridal style. Naturally, we were accosted by the same abrasive Lantern we encountered when we first arrived.

"And where do you think you're going?" The Lantern asked. "Trying to kidnap the patient, you've got some nerve, you do. I have it in good mind to…"

"Calm down, they're my friends," Chris defended us. "They're just taking me home." He looked at Lynn and smiled, saying, "Home where I belong."

The Lantern didn't seem pleased, but had no choice but to let us pass. As we walked through the Guardians' City, I had one question for Chris.

"So what happened to that Katanza guy?" I asked him. "Is he still out there somewhere?"

"No," Chris said. "It was an intense and brutal battle, but Rayner and I managed to defeat and captured. He's currently being in one of the sciencells. I don't think we'll have to worry about him any time soon."

"By the way, Leni, you're not going to tell anyone, right?" Lynn asked me.

"Tell anyone what?" I asked.

"Tell anyone that I was crying?" Lynn asked.

I looked at her, winked and said "I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about"

I pulled out the teleporter and quickly took us back to Earth, eager to reunite with some of my family.

END ISSUE 10


	11. Issue 11: Lolarennt

I've always been a rather simple girl. Beautiful, bold, cunning when I need to be, and never even considering the possibility of giving up. It was that never say die, don't count me out attitude that ensured I always got everything I wanted. For example, I wanted to be the cutest pageant queen in Royal Woods so I went above and beyond to ensure that I was the most gorgeous person in the room, sometimes spending hours in front of a mirror just to make sure I looked absolutely flawless. Some people may say I have an ego, but if you were to see me, you'd know that every ounce of confidence I have is justified. Would you really expect me not to flaunt my good looks?

Getting back on topic, anything I wanted, I got. I'll admit that Mom Dad kinda spoiled me when they were still here. As a result, I wasn't exactly used to people telling me "no". Don't get me wrong, it's not like I would just flat out murder someone in cold blood for refusing my requests or anything. It was more like, if you didn't give me what I wanted, I'd find another way to attain it myself, even if it meant getting my hands dirty. I guess that's what started me on the path I walk and gained me the infamous reputation that I'm known for. Nowadays I'm known as Royal Woods' greatest jewel thief. Scratch that, I'm known as Royal Woods greatest thief period. I'm so good in fact that the media doesn't even know what my face looks like. I can only imagine the look they'd have on their faces when they found out the infamous King of Thieves was actually a 7 year old girl.

The only people I'd imagine who knew of my true identity would be my siblings and even still, they had no proof so there was nothing they could do about it. It's actually kinda funny really, while they're all going out and getting their faces shown on newspapers and TV screens, I'm doing the best job of remaining incognito. Heck, Lincoln and Lynn have even had their faces plastered of posters and T-shirts from how recognizable they are thanks to their good deeds. And yeah sure, no one knows their real names, but no one even knows that I exist. They think I'm just some random dude.

What's also a little bit funny is that while I started out stealing jewels to satisfy my desire for shiny things, now I do it simply for the fun of it. Don't get me wrong, I still love diamonds and rubies and precious pearls as much as the next person, but I get most of my enjoyment from the thrills I get. Wondering if I'm maybe walking into a trap or a sting, wondering if this is the night I get caught or if I'll slip up and leave behind a clue that'll make it easier for them to find me. Wondering if I'll miss a witness and someone will see my face for the first time, finally giving the police a face to match to the robberies. It's all part of the game and it's a fun game at that.

The only real downside is having to contend with other wannabe jewel thieves who think they're hot stuff, only to be caught faster than a fast ball at one of Lynn's ball games. While they did help make the game a bit more interesting and challenging through way of forcing store owners to up their security, they also forced me to skip out on certain spots until the heat died down. Even more annoying was that every time one of these wannabes was caught, the media would assume that the King of Thieves had finally been captured, somewhat ruining my reputation. Pfft, it was insulting that they confused me with the likes of such amateurs. It all came with the territory though and I couldn't be too disappointed with that.

Lately, things had been going crazy in Royal Woods. My twin Lana had attacked City Hall, my sister Lisa had created some robot army, some thieves tried stealing some nerd tech from Star Labs (which reminded me to try my own hand at stealing from them in the future, maybe show those other morons how it's done), and just a few days ago, a fight broke out between 3 of my other sisters. This was all great news for me as it took the focus off of me for a while and made my hobby just a little bit easier. Maybe I should send them a thank you card for all the help they were giving me.

Tonight, I was planning my biggest hit yet and one that was kinda sentimental to me. It was the jewelry store where Dad bought Mom the engagement ring he proposed to her with. According to Dad, this place was nothing to scoff at with insane prices. Like, even the cheapest and most basic jewelry made out of glorified fortified plastic cost more than 600. Dad said he worked overtime nonstop for 7 months straight just so he'd be able to afford Mom a diamond ring. A place like that had to have some high class insane valuables they were housing and I was going to clean 'em out for everything they had and then some. I knew it probably wasn't going to be easy (it rarely ever is), but that wasn't going to deter me one bit. After weeks of casing this joint, I'd come too far to back out now.

I started off watching the store from the rooftop of an opposite building across the street. It was a little bit before midnight and I was waiting for the owner to finish up a purchase with the last customer before closing up for the night. After what felt like forever, the owner closed the deal, the customer left, and the owner turned out the lights before locking up. I waited until his car had disappeared down the street before making my move. The only thing standing in my way now were two security guards hired to watch over the store. They were rather easy to deal with, I simply descended from the rooftop and walked right past them. The sight of a seemingly helpless little girl walking the streets so late at night appealed to their humanity and they immediately stopped me to ask where I was headed.

"Whoa, are you okay little girl?" The first Guard asked me. "Don't you know that it's too late for someone you're age to be out and about?"

"Yeah kid, where are your parents?" The second one asked.

Putting on the teariest, sappiest, saddest, o woe is me face I could, I looked at them, whimpered, and said "My mommy daddy, they're… they're dead!"

"Oh dear," the first Guard said, reaching down to pat me on the head. "You poor, poor thing. We're so so sorry for your loss. Don't worry, we'll help you out."

"Yeah," His Partner chimed in. "If there's anything, anything at all, that we could do to help you, please don't hesitate to ask."

"W-Well, there is one thing you can do," I said with a sniffle.

"What's that?" They both asked in unison.

"You can go to sleep," I said coldly, dropping the act and extending my arms out until my fists connected with each of their faces, hitting them with enough force to knock them out cold. The guards didn't even have time to know what had hit 'em. Stretching my arms out even more, I wrapped my arms around their ankles and dragged them back behind the store, hiding their unconscious bodies behind some dumpsters. Out of sight, out of mind. As I said before, I'm not exactly keen on casualties; every job I pull always ends with a body count of zero. "Heh, suckers."

With them out of the way, all I had to do was make it inside and the jewels were as good as mine. The door was locked, naturally, but what good would that do to someone with my elastic abilities. Standing in the shadows, I took a quick look around to make sure that no one was coming and that no one was watching. I then kept an ear out, trying to see if I could hear anyone else's presence. When I heard nothing but the sound of my own breath, that signifies the coast was clear and that I was free to proceed. I stretched myself out until I was thinner than a sheet of paper and squeezed through the tiny crevice between the two glass doors. Just like that, I was inside.

Once I was inside, I took a quick glimpse at the layout. All around were shiny gemstones of all shapes and sizes. Emeralds, rubies, sapphires, diamonds, garnet, amethyst, the list goes on and on. Now, any normal run of the mill jewel thief would've immediately made a break for the treasures surrounding them. Not me, however. Anyone with common sense would know that a store as prestigious as this one had some top of the line security measures implemented. Maybe not the cliche action movie motion detecting lasers you always see, but top of the line systems nonetheless. I could spot the control panel for the security system all the way on the other side of the store, near the back.

Not moving an inch from where I was standing, I stretched out my arm all the way across the store until I could reach the panel. While I was casing the joint, I had managed to figure out and memorize the code to both activate and deactivate the system. It took some concentration, but I put in the code correctly and shut down the first line of defense. The second step I had to take was disabling the alarm. Fortunately, the control panel for that was located right next to the first one. Having memorized the code for that too, I input the deactivation code and disabled the alarm. Now all that was left was dealing with the pesky cameras. There were four of them around the store, watching every single move a person made. I pulled some putty out of my pocket and used it to cover the lenses of each camera, all while still standing in the same spot.

Before making my next move, I did one last raincheck to make sure I had taken care of everything. After checking off everything, I was free to do what I came here for. I quickly moved from standing in front of the door and made my way over to where the necklaces were. They were so pretty, coming with an assortment of different gems. Seeing as I had come here with the intention of taking everything, I quickly shoved them all into my duffel bag. Next on my list were the earrings and bracelets. While they were still breathtaking to look at, they seemed like the most boring items in the store. Still, I figured they'd sell for a pretty good price on the jewel market so into the bag they went. Next came the main attraction, the thing that I had come here for in the first place: the rings.

Taking one good look at the prices for these things nearly made my heart skip a bit. Dad wasn't exaggerating in the slightest when he said buying from this place cost an arm and a leg. Now I didn't feel bad at all about stealing from this place. Not just for the fact that the stores' jewels were insured but because this could be considered a reimbursement of sorts for my dad. Putting that aside, I grabbed each and every ring from the display cases and shelves and dropped them into the bag. That's when I saw something that really caught my eye.

Near the back of the store, behind a thick glass display case sat a tiara. Not just any tiara however, this tiara was crafted from white gold with golden tips and encrusted with pure 24 karat diamonds. It was beautiful and I just had to have it. The rest of this stuff I was going to sell on the black market, but this I was going to keep for myself. I walked over to the display case and casually lifted up the glass protecting it. I took a few seconds to admire the tiara's beauty before picking it up and putting it on my head. If I hadn't felt like a queen before, I certainly did now.

That's when things started to go south. Behind me, I heard a taunting voice say "Don't you think it's a bit late to be out shopping?"

Turning around, I saw Lincoln, clad in his costume and mask standing before me. I didn't have a chance to react before he used his web to take the tiara off my head.

"Hey, that's mine!" I whined, extremely ticked off that Lincoln had interrupted my heist.

"Oh really?" Lincoln replied in a snarky tone. "You wouldn't happen to have a receipt for this, would you? If you do, I'll gladly return it to you?"

"Knock it off!" I yelled at him. "What are you even doing here in the first place? Don't you have to be somewhere like saving the world or some other nonsense?"

"Well yeah, but I figured I'd take a break from all that stuff so I could spend some quality time with my little sister," Lincoln replied. "I've gotta say though, robbing a jewelry store wasn't exactly my idea of quality bonding"

"How did you even know I was going to be here!?" I asked, annoyed by his teasing.

"Oh, I dunno, might have something to do with my spider sense," He answered. I wasn't sure if he was joking or being serious until he said "Nah, don't worry, I'm just messing with you. My spider sense isn't that powerful." He paced around for a bit before saying "The truth is, I've known that you were the Thief King since the beginning, it's just that other stuff got in the way before I could talk to you. Anyway, I figured you'd hit this place eventually so I just lied in wait."

"There's nothing that we need to talk about," I snarled. "Now if you're smart, you'll hand over that tiara and let me get on my way."

"Afraid I can't do that, sis," Lincoln replied. "You know, on account of the whole breaking the law thing you're doing."

"Are you really telling me that you're willing to send your innocent little sister to jail?" I asked, pulling out the puppy dog eyes again.

"Of course not," Lincoln replied and I smirked. Then he said "Which is why I'm here to try and convince you to, you know, not be a thief. And maybe also, join Lynn and I and our other siblings."

"Ha!" I scoffed. "Thanks but no thanks. Sorry, Linc, but this whole jewel thief gig is a game to me. A game that I enjoy playing and winning. Do you really expect me to give all that up just to dress up in a costume and play superhero with you guys? Not happening, bro."

"This isn't exactly about you being a hero or anything, this is more a case of me getting to you before Lisa does," Lincoln said.

"And what exactly would Poindexter want with me?" I asked. "Does she need someone to act as her guinea pig? Tell her to forget about it. Those days are over." I flashed him a smirk and said "Besides, do you really expect me to risk this beauty to help her out?"

"That's just the thing, Lisa isn't willing to listen to you," Lincoln replied. "Listen, this whole thing is complicated, I'll explain when we get to Lucy's place. All you need to know is that-,"

"What do you mean we?" I asked him, looking at him like he was crazy as I extended my arms trying to snatch the tiara from out of his hands only for him to hold it out of my reach, much to my annoyance. "You've got a lot of nerve assuming that I'm going anywhere with you. Especially after you interrupted my fun and took my grand prize. And speaking of grand prize, GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Listen, I know we kinda didn't meet under the most ideal circumstances, but we need to talk because this is important," Lincoln said, easily dodging my attempt at punching him in the face by cocking his head to the side. "Okay, I said talk, not fight." It pissed me off a little that he could still crack jokes while I was trying to punch his lights out. "Just try and hear me out for a second."

"Forget it, Linc," I replied, stretching my leg and attempting to roundhouse kick or if that failed, wrap my leg around his neck in an attempt to strangle him. "You blew any chances of talking when you ruined my heist."

"Lola, I'm trying really hard not to fight you right now," Lincoln said, rolling out of the way of my kick. "But you're making that really hard right now and trust me, the last thing I want to do is fight with my little sister."

"Yeah, because you know you'll lose," I taunted him. I made another grab at that tiara, but this time instead of simply holding out of my reach, Lincoln jumped backwards. As if that would stop me, I just extended my arm even farther, only for Lincoln to bat my hand away. "Okay Lincoln, you're really starting to annoy me! Will you just butt out!?"

"Not until I get you to listen to me!" Lincoln replied. "Unless you want to lose your powers and be hauled off to some lab, you'll let me talk!"

I stopped briefly, acting as if I was going to heed his warning. Lincoln fell for it, cautiously walking closer to me. Once he was close enough, my leg shot out like a cannon and I delivered a swift kick to his groin. Lincoln doubled over in pain, dropping the tiara to the ground, which I swiftly picked up. I grabbed ahold of the duffle bag with the other stolen goods and spotted an air vent leading to the roof that I could use to escape. I was about to make a break for it, but Lincoln recovered quick and shot web at me, catching me by my wrist.

"Okay, I tried to go about this civilly, but if this is how you wanna play it," Lincoln said, tugging on his web and trying to pull me back towards him.

All he managed to do was stretch my arm out even further. That wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that thanks to his near indestructible web, I was practically handcuffed to him. In an effort to break free, I swung around the hand I was using to hold the duffle bag, stretched my arm out as far as I could and walloped as hard as I could in the head. The impact knocked Lincoln to the ground and scattered a dozens of small diamonds across the floor.

"Oof," Lincoln said, getting back up to his feet and clutching his head while still holding tight on the web that had ensnared me. "I know they say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but this is ridiculous."

In a rage, I launched myself at Lincoln, taking a wild swing at him. Lincoln dodged and used my own momentum to flip me over onto my back. He attempted to pin me down with more webs, but I rolled out of the way and countered Lincoln with an uppercut. That finally got him to let go of the web that was stuck to my wrist and gave me an opportunity to make a run for it. I didn't bother trying to gather up the jewels that I'd spilled from my bag and instead settled for just making off with the tiara. Lincoln must've read me like a book because just as I was about to dash out the door with tiara in hand, Lincoln used his blasted web to snatch it from me yet again. My brother sure did know how to get under my skin.

Not willing to leave that precious tiara behind, I turned around to take it back. I silently swore to myself that I'd make him pay dearly for thwarting my efforts. Picking up one of the shelves, I spun around before throwing them at Lincoln like a discus. Thanks to his spider sense, Lincoln not only was able to dodge with plenty of time to spare, but also manage to catch the shelve in his hands and break it in half. I'd forgotten about his super strength. That might prove pesky if we were to continue to fight, which I had every intention of doing.

I cocked my fists back and proceeded to throw as many punches as I could as fast as I could at Lincoln. To his credit, Lincoln either blocked, dodged or deflected each punch I threw. Hoping to catch him by surprise, I threw a surprise kick at him, aiming for his gut. Lincoln not only caught both my hands, but my leg as well, leaving me hopping on one leg while he stood on the other side of the room. I struggled to keep my balance before coming up with an idea on how to strike. I took a few small hops backwards before letting go, taking advantage of my elasticity to propel myself at Lincoln like a bottle rocket. Lincoln didn't expect that and his spider sense didn't kick in fast enough to allow him to counter. I rammed my head into his chin with a smashing headbutts, knocking both of us off our feet.

That move took just as much as out of me as it did of him, leaving me briefly with an aching head and seeing stars. I was a little dizzy as I staggered to my feet and reached out for the tiara. Lincoln seemed a bit out of it as well, but was still alert enough to stomp on the tiara to keep me from getting it. The blow to his head must've messed with his spider sense as he failed to dodge a punch from me that he normally would've easily sidestepped. Of course, it was foolish of me to count him out just yet as he still had plenty of fight left in him.

While he did everything in his power to avoid actually punching me, he made up for it in creative ways, such as sneakily shooting two webs at my back and attaching them to one of the display cases, causing the glass pane to pop loose and hit me in the back when I tried charging him. As annoying as he was, I had to give him credit. His greatest asset wasn't his wall crawling, super strength or precognition, but his ingenuity in battle. Heck, his ingenuity in general made dealing with him a pain. I grabbed a hold of the two webs attached to my back and managed to rip them off, almost tearing up my clothing in the process. Lincoln still has the tiara in his grasp and I was determined to get it no matter the cost. Knowing this, Lincoln crawled up the wall and through the air vent that I had planned on using earlier. In hindsight, that was probably how he sneaked in on me undetected. Not that it mattered now because I followed right after him.

The vents took us right to the roof and now was where things got tense. I had it in mind to throw Lincoln off the roof when this was all said and done for all the trouble he put me through. I quickly dismissed the thought. Even if he had been a huge pain in the neck, I was insistent on keeping my no kill policy. Besides, he was still my brother so it's not like there wasn't some attachment between us. After making it onto the roof, the two of us simply stared each other down, not making a single move towards one another. Lincoln had a look in his eyes that said he still wanted to talk. That caused me to think for a moment. If he was still insistent on talking after all of this, it truly must've been important. As if to confirm my suspicions, Lincoln walked over to the edge of the building and held the tiara over the edge.

"Lincoln, what do you think you're doing?" I asked him. "Stop! Don't do it!"

"I'm sorry, Lola, but this seems to be the only way to get you to listen," Lincoln said. "Personally, I don't know what the big deal is about this crown, but if this is what it takes then so be it."

"Wait, Lincoln, don't!" I pleaded with him before finally giving in. "Alright, alright, I'll listen! Whatever you have to say, I'm listening to it loud and clear! Now will you please not do something rash."

Lincoln walked away from the edge and looked me in the eye before explaining. "As I said, this is a bit complicated, so I'll have to fill you in on some details later." He said. I kept my eyes trained on the tiara before returning my attention back to him. "The basic gist of it is that Lisa is after all of us. Well, except for Luna, who's working for her. She has these freaky collars that can block out our powers and she isn't afraid to use them. The reason I came after you is so that I could get to you before she did."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, confused by what Lincoln was saying. "Hold up, I am seriously lost right now."

"To be honest I expected that reaction," Lincoln replied. "Frankly, I'm still trying to make sense of all this myself." Lincoln chuckled and said "Maybe the others will be better at explaining it than I will. Tl;dr: you're in danger and I'm here to kinda sorta save you before you get captured."

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" I asked.

"First you've got to trust me," Lincoln said. "I wouldn't lie to you about something like this. I just need you to come with me until it's safe."

I took a few moments to think about whether I trusted him or not. He seemed to be telling the truth, but I was still hesitant. Before I could make my decision, Lincoln and I heard sirens approaching followed shortly afterwards by flashes of blue and red lights. The two of us looked over to see two squad cars pulling up to the store and quickly ducked down to avoid being seen. Great, just what I needed; first a nosy brother and now a bunch of pesky pigs wanted to interfere. I had taken every necessary step to avoid detection, how did they know I was hear.

I would get my answer when I heard one of the guards I had knocked out groggily say to his partner "Oh man, my head is killing me. What's going on here?"

"I dunno," His partner replied. "All I remember is signaling for the police when we saw that little girl before suddenly blacking out."

"Speaking of which, where is that little girl?" The other one asked to which his partner answered "I don't know, but I hope she's alright. Looks like the King of Thieves struck again."

"Heh, they must be losing their touch," His partner observed as police inspected the scene. "Looks like half their loot is on the floor."

"I don't know about you, but I think now would be a good time to get out of here," Lincoln said to me. "Quick, hop on my back and I'll get us out of here,"

Though I was still wary of him, I didn't want to take my chances with the cops so I jumped onto his back, saying "You don't have to tell me twice!"

Lincoln wasted no time and while the officers were distracted by checking out the scene, shot a web at a building behind the jewelry store and swung over to it. From there he wall crawled up the side of the building until he reached a high enough height for him to webswing from skyscraper to skyscraper. "You might wanna Hold on tight, we're going to be moving fast and furiously"

"Really? Because you know, I was thinking of just letting go and falling to my demise, but yeah, you're idea sounds better," I said sarcastically, holding onto him for dear life as we swung from building to building at high speeds.

I was pretty sure the cops still didn't even know that we had even been at that jewelry store and had given up the search, but I applauded Lincoln for not taking the chance. I noticed that in his absentmindedness, Lincoln still had a hold of the tiara that I'd tried to steal. With a mischievous grin, I decided to sneakily try and take it from his hands, carefully reaching my hand out towards his while maintaining a tight grip on his neck.

Lincoln looked back at me and whispered "Don't even think about it," as he continued web slinging as though nothing had happened.

"Hey, I figured I was doing you a favor," I said with a slight shrug. "You are carrying stolen merchandise after all. Imagine how tattered your reputation would be if the news found out that the great Spider-Ace stole a priceless accessory from one of the most expensive stores in town. Seriously, let me take it off your hands and save you the trouble/headache."

"Okay, I know I've done some dumb things in the past, but do I look like an idiot?" Lincoln replied.

"Do you want an honest answer to that question?" I retorted.

Lincoln sighed and said "You're not getting this tiara, Lola. First thing tomorrow morning, I'm taking it back to where it belongs."

"You're no fun, you know that?" I muttered as Lincoln finally touched down on TV station rooftop.

"Alright, we should be out of the woods now," He said. "I don't think anyone saw us, but it doesn't hurt to air on the safe side."

"Great, because I have a few questions to ask you," I told him, repeatedly walking around him. "Now, this whole Lisa situation, are you really telling the truth or are you just spinning a web (no pun intended) so that I join you guys?"

"If you don't believe me, you can ask Lana," was Lincoln's response. "She's the one who told all of us about what's going on. I don't know what she's doing now, all I know is that she's planning her own revenge of Lisa and Luna after they kidnapped her."

"Lana?" I questioned. "What would Lisa want with her?" I couldn't help but feel a little insulted. "If she's going after all of her siblings then why didn't she go after the prettiest one first? I mean, sure, she wouldn't have the same success in capturing me that she did with Lana, but she could've at least got the biggest threat out of the way first."

"Hey, if you get the chance, you should take it up with her," Lincoln replied, shrugging his shoulders. "All I know is that she's determined to catch us by any means necessary."

"If you say so," I muttered. "Next question: you mentioned Lynn and Lucy and everyone else as working together. Where exactly are you guys meeting up at?"

"You'll see it when we get there," Lincoln said. "I can't say too much on account that Lisa could be listening in on us as we speak, but I will say that Lucy has this great hideout for all of us to take refuge."

"So if I go with you, how long am I going to have to stay in hiding with you guys?" I asked.

"I don't know," Lincoln answered. "Just until we can find a way to deal with Lisa. We just need to keep a low profile for a while until we can strike back."

"Yeah, that sounds great and all, but I don't really like the whole laying low thing," I told him. "When the world's treasures are just waiting to be nabbed, how could I just sit back and leave it out in the open for some other sticky fingers? I mean, just what kind of person do you take me for?"

"Sure, fine, go ahead and continue thieving," Lincoln said sarcastically. "Just don't say I didn't warn you when the next joint you try to rob turns out to be a trap."

That gave me reason to stop and think. What if he was right? What if someone was setting me up as I speak? And if what he had previously said was true, I definitely did not want to go down to such an obvious ploy. The jewels and gems would always be available for me to take any time I please. Losing my freedom at the hands of my sister on the other hand wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. Thus, I reluctantly decided to accept Lincoln's offer.

"Alright Lincoln, I'll come with you and the others," I told him. "But only until Lisa's been taken care of and I'm free to go about my life. Afterwards, don't expect me to stick around like some groupie or anything, okay?"

Lincoln sighed, smiled, shrugged and said "I was expecting that type of response. Guess the possibility of a family reunion is out of the question, huh."

"Well, maybe if you promise me a reward for helping you guys out in your time of need, I'll have more of an incentive to stick around," I suggested, winking at Lincoln and gently nudging his arm with my elbow.

"You're not getting this tiara," Lincoln said in a deadpan tone.

"Dang it!" I shouted before accepting my loss, shrugging and saying "Well, it was worth a shot. Come on and take me to our loving family."

Lincoln turned around and said "Just hop on and I'll get us there in a flash."

Hopping on his back, I took a second to reflect on how crazy this night had been. I had started off the night hoping to hit my biggest lick and ended the night reuniting with my family. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was only the beginning of how crazy things would get. I also couldn't get the thoughts regarding my twin sister's whereabouts out of my head. Wherever Lana was, I was going to find her.

END ISSUE 11


	12. Issue 12: Luna 2, Sammy Bigigloo

A couple of days had passed since Luna's encounter with Lori, Lucy, and Haiku. After that interaction, she had a lot of questions swirling around in her head. Was it true that Lio really could cure the virus with his healing powers? How long had Lisa known about Lio's curing abilities? Is that why Lisa had really been insistent on going after him first? If Lio could cure Haiku of her affliction, could he do the same for Sam it was it already too late for her dearest partner? The biggest question of all that Luna had however was a simple one: was Lisa lying about developing a cure? It was all so much to take in. All this time, Luna had been mindlessly following Lisa's orders, going after whoever the latter sent her after. All in hopes that Lisa could save the one she loved most. Luna knew that that didn't excuse her more morally questionable actions, but at least before she was able to justify it by rationalizing that it was for a good cause. Now she couldn't even do that.

Though she had been behaving as obedient as ever during these last few days, Luna was determined to confront Lisa about this fact as soon as she got the chance. The latter had been so busy working on her lab trying to complete her cure that she'd paid little mind to Luna. According to her, there was only one last ingredient that she was missing and then it would be complete. Admittedly, that promise was part of what kept Luna in line and stopped her from going off on Lisa. The only other thing keeping her from acting out was the fact that Sam was still being held in one of the freezing chambers. If she were to step out of line, it'd be guaranteeing Sam's demise. Luna struggles to keep from losing control, breaking down and crying at the seemingly hopeless situation she was in. She had to stay strong, there was no other choice; she had to stay strong for Sam's sake. If the situation were reversed, Luna knew that Sam would do the same for her.

Following the scuffle with Lucy, Lori, and Haiku, Lisa hadn't given her any more orders pertaining to capturing any of her siblings. Whether that was because Lisa was disappointed in her failure to apprehend Lori and Lucy or if it was simply because Lisa wanted to rely more on her androids, Luna didn't know. If she were being honest with herself, Luna was glad that she was no longer tasked with bringing in any more of her brothers and sisters. It was hard enough having to fight Lana, Lynn, and the aforementioned two, and that was just on an emotional level. She would never willingly try to hurt another member of her family, but her desperation had driven her to do things she thought she'd never do. She would've preferred being Lisa's secretary and getting her coffee over having to do that anymore. The reprieve in having to hunt down her family had given Luna more time to think. More time to think about just how much she was being manipulated.

Damnit, Luna couldn't wait any longer. She had to get some answers now. Returning from a field test involving more of Lisa's robots, Luna got onto the elevator and took it all the way up to the top floor. The ride to the top would likely take her approximately 10 minutes, plenty of time for her to reflect and rehearse what she was going to say. She thought back to when Lisa first approached her and offered up a partnership. That was the night that Sam's condition worsened and she was rushed to the hospital with a high fever. Doctors didn't know if she would pull through and Luna wanted to stay by her side. To tell her one last time how much she meant to her. Sam lapsed into a coma shortly after that and that's when Lisa approached her.

She offered Luna a solution in her moment of weakness. Offered to save Sam's life and promised that she'd find a way to rid her of the disease that was ravaging her body. As any lover would do for their mate, Luna took Lisa up on her offer, willing to pay whatever price it took if it meant saving Sam. And though that meeting and subsequent beginning of their partnership had only taken place a few months ago, to Luna it felt as if it had been years since they'd allied with each other. Frankly, Luna had grown sick of it. It was time for Lisa probe she could create an actual cure to the virus, otherwise her days of having Luna as a glorified attack dog would come to an end.

The elevator finally reached its destination and Luna wasted no time making a beeline for Lisa's office. During the ride up, she had practiced what she was going to say again and again, readying herself for calling it splits. She had formed a plan in the back of her head of just how she was going to go about escaping the facility with Sam. Luna knew that this would likely result in a physical fight between her and Lisa, but had the perfect strategy for how to end it before it even got started. She wouldn't even give Lisa a chance to telekinetically stun or grab her, planning to freeze Lisa solid the second things turned sour. That'd hopefully give her enough time to spring Sam from the lab and make a break for it before Lisa thawed out. Upon reaching Lisa's office, Luna could hear her talking to someone else (presumably Wilbur) on the other side of the door and she didn't like what she was hearing.

"Honestly, I struggle to keep from laughing at how easily my siblings play into my hands," Lisa said. "I could've captured them at any time I pleased, but I figured I'd let them tarnish their reputations so that no one would bat an eye when I did take them down. Although, I must say… I was feeling rather let down when Luna didn't get the job done pertaining to Lori and Lucy."

"You'd think that with all you were doing for her, she wouldn't come up short when you needed her most," Wilbur said. "I mean, you're taking care of her little girlfriend while she's out there failing your simple requests. Considering the fact that you could've pulled the plug on her little lover ages ago, she should be a bit more gracious."

"As practical as that may be, I could never just pull the plug on Sam," Lisa said. Rather than barge in and confront Lisa, Luna decided to stay outside and eavesdrop on her in hopes she'd show her true colors. "She's an innocent bystander in all this and I don't want her blood on my hands. And more importantly, if Sam dies, I have nothing to keep Luna in line. While I could very well proceed with my plans without her assistance, it would still be more beneficial for me to keep her at myself. Better to have her as an ally than as an enemy."

"Miss Lisa, be honest with me, do you really have plans to create a cure or is that just part of a ruse to keep your sister by your side?" Wilbur asked. "Because if I'm being honest, you can only keep your sister in your employ under false promises for so long. Eventually, she is going to catch on and-,"

Luna couldn't see what happened, but given the sudden "Ack!" From Wilbur followed what sounded choking sounds, she could only assume that Lisa was telekinetically strangling him.

"Do not insult my intelligence," Lisa snarled. "I'd also advise you to refrain from questioning my intentions or implying that my words are merely false promises. There is no deceit involved in the development of a cure. I have every intention of bringing an end to this outbreak. I am closer than ever before to treating this illness, there's just one more ingredient that I'm missing. As soon as I find out what it is, I'll be in the clear."

There was a thud, followed by the sound of Wilbur gasping for air. After a few seconds of catching his breath, he apologized, saying "I-I'm sorry Boss. It wasn't my intention to insinuate that you're a liar, I was just curious is all." He took another gasp before asking "Do you think your sister will stick around even after you cure her girlfriend?"

"While I would hope that my favor has earned her eternal loyalty, I'm being honest, I highly doubt it," Lisa answered. "Luna has voiced her objection to my methods numerous times with me just barely being able to persuade her into going along with them. The second her precious Sam is healthy and lively again, she'll leave me in the dust. Which is why I have a plan to keep her by my side whether she likes it or not."

"Oh, please do tell," Wilbur said.

"As you know, part of my plan involves engineering the cure in a way that allows me to control people's minds," Lisa told him and instantly, Luna didn't like where she was headed. "Once I complete my work, who better to test this cure on than Sam Sharp? If I have Sam under my control to the point where she obeys my every whim, Luna will have no choice but to remain loyal to me. That is, unless she wants to lose her lover forever."

Luna gasped upon hearing Lisa's plans. She knew that the latter was manipulating her, but she didn't think she was doing it to such a deep degree. Nor did she think that Lisa would be so depraved as to actually plot to use her own girlfriend against her. The threat to Sam's life had been the primary thing keeping her from turning on Lisa, but now that it was clear that Lisa would never allow her and Sam to have a happy life, that shackle had been broken. Luna's mind was now made up, she knew what she had to do. She didn't even bother to kick open the door and call Lisa out like she originally planned on doing, instead getting back on the elevator and taking it all the way down to the basement floor.

Lisa had made one crucial mistake and that was giving Luna access to the lab. The other Paxton employees paid Luna no mind as she stomped through the doors. A few of them greeted her as she walked past them, but Luna ignored them. Truthfully, she was half tempted to freeze them all over for their role in Lisa's scheme. She decided against it however since she wanted to leave with Sam without making a scene and because there was a chance that some of these people were oblivious as to what Lisa's end goal was. If she could help it, she'd prefer not to have the blood of innocent bystanders on her hands.

Luna made her way to where the cryogenic freezing pods were housed. She took a quick look over her shoulder to make sure that no one was watching her before entering the chamber. The eggheads were all so preoccupied with their own duties to even notice what she was up to. Luna was thankful for that as she walked over to Sam's chamber and carefully input the code to safely open it. Luna took a few moments to look at Sam before making her next move. She still looked so peaceful, like an angel, just as Luna remembered her. That's not to say she wasn't showing signs of disease however. Her skin was pale and her hair looked somewhat withered, having lost some of its color. Knowing she couldn't waste any time however, Luna gingerly picked Sam up and started walking towards the door. She didn't know how she was going to get Sam out of here without being found out, but if it came down to a fight, Luna would give it everything she had. That's when a solution presented itself.

"Hey, what're you doing in here!?" A scientist asked as he stepped into the chamber, only to be immediately knocked out by a stiff punch from Luna.

Looking down at the unconscious scientist, a rather cliched idea came to her mind. Closing the door, Luna stripper the scientist of his clothes and placed him in the corner out of sight. Luna then dressed Sam up in his clothes and put the scientists thick, opaque eyeglasses on her face to disguise her before lifting her up to her feet.

"Alright, looks like I'm Weekend at Bernie's-ing this," Luna commented before walking Sam out of the chamber and through the lab.

Much to Luna's surprise, the guise seemed to work with not a single scientist or employee paying any attention to either her or Sam. Luna made it to the elevator with zero problems and following that, was able to walk the door unnoticed. As soon as she was out of sight, Luna picked Sam up over her shoulders and used her ice powers to surf out of the area as fast as possible. Phase one had been completed, now all Luna needed was to get treatment for Sam. She didn't know how long Sam could last outside the freezing pod and she needed to act fast before the virus had a chance to finish her off. Skating through the city at top speed, Luna pulled out her phone and dialed the one person who could assist her in that regard. Luna just prayed that he wasn't busy and that he'd pick up the phone rather than assume the worst and ignore her. Much to her relief, he answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" Lio asked, confused as to why Luna was calling him.

"Lio, it's me, Luna, I really need your help right now!" Luna states desperately, dodging cars and pedestrians left and right as she sped through the city.

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on?" Lio asked. "Are you alright? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, I'm alright, that isn't the problem," Luna replied. "I've kinda got myself in a sticky situation that I need your help with."

"What do you mean?" Lio asked, more confused than anything. Last he'd heard, Luna was still working with Lisa so why she had called him was a complete mystery. He wondered if perhaps Luna was setting him up for a trap. That would explain why she had called from out of nowhere. "Are you pulling my leg or trying to trap me?"

"No bro, I'm not!" Luna swore, the desperate tone in her voice convincing Lio that she was being completely serious. "It's not me, it's Sam that I need help with. I found out that Lisa was just using me so I cut ties with her and took Sam with me. Lucy tells me that you can cure the virus and I didn't know who else to call for help! Please, you've gotta believe me! Sam could die at any moment and I can't let that happen! I don't care what you do to me or what price I have to put, just-"

"Calm down, calm down," Lio said, taking in everything Luna had said. Given that her voice was shaky and she sounded like she was on the verge of tears, Lio believed everything she was saying. The truth was that Lio planned on helping her regardless from the moment she requested it. No matter what she had done, she was still his sister and he could never turn her down in her moment of need, even at the risk of walking into a trap. And even if she was lying, Lio would never take the chance of letting an innocent girl die. "I'm on my way now, just tell me where to meet you and I'll be there as soon as possible."

Luna weighed her options for a few seconds. The first place that came to mind was the concert hall, but she dismissed that idea on account that it'd be too obvious of a place for her to hide. Maybe they could meet up at the pizzeria, Lisa wouldn't dare try to attack them there, would she? She had mentioned not wanting to kill innocent people so that might've been a viable option. Still, Luna didn't want to chance getting innocent people involved so she scrapped that idea as well. Finally, she came up with the perfect place to meet Lio.

"Meet me at the pet cemetery," Luna said. "You know which one I'm talking about, right?"

"Say no more," Lio said. "I'll be there before you know it!"

"Great," Luna said. "Thank you so much, I owe you big time for this, bro!"

With that, Luna hung up and began making her way towards the pet cemetery. Sam hadn't moved an inch, nor had she made a peep, not even so much as a moan. The only thing that kept Luna from freaking out and thinking she was dead was the fact that she could feel Sam's chest steadily rise and fall as well as hear her shallow breaths.

"Come on, babe," Luna pleaded with her. "Just hang in there a little longer. I promise you that everything is going to be okay."

* * *

While she had been reluctant to join her other siblings, Lola would be lying if she said it didn't feel good to see their faces again. Yeah, the media may have thought of her as a heartless thief, but she'd always hold a soft spot for her family. Which is why Lola couldn't let it go when she found that Lana wasn't one of the familiar faces waiting for her at Lucy's bat cave. If she was going to be forced to hide out with her siblings, she had at least hoped her twin sister would be among them. Though they shared nearly completely opposite interests, Lola found that she always got along best with Lana. At times, they even referred to it as having twin magic.

When Lola asked about the whereabouts of Lana, Lynn explained that she stated her intentions of returning to the woods to live with her animal companions. It was then that Lola made it her mission to set out and find her, despite the warnings from Lincoln that like the animals she could shapeshift into, she'd become incredibly territorial and hostile to visitors. Lola brushes off his warnings, figuring that she could convince Lana to assist them in their cause. After all, that twin magic couldn't have just disappeared in such a short time, could it? And in the event that the sisters did come to blows, Lola's elastic body would allow her to take some heavy hits without accruing too much damage.

Though Lincoln and Lynn tried talking her out of it, Lola set out to find Lana regardless, venturing into the woods. The atmosphere reminded Lola of happier times such as a camping vacation in the past. Lola quickly pushed the thought out of her head, there would be time to nostalgic reminiscing later, when she reunited with her sister. One thing was for certain and that was that she was going to give Lana a serious scolding for forcing her to contend with mosquitoes and bees and other creepy crawlies while looking for her. For all the trouble she was going through, there was no way she was going to let Lana just say no to her proposal once she found her.

Lola noticed that the forest was oddly devoid of its usual human presence. Usually, one could find the odd hiker or two walking along the path, but Lola hadn't seen not a single face since she'd started searching. She was aware of Lana's fearsome reputation as Beast Girl, but that hadn't stopped people from visiting the woods anymore than the fake story about a swamp monster scaring off developers from that one pond. If anything, the story of the mythical Beast Girl has only driven up visits to the forest. Which is why Lana found it strange that there wasn't a trace of any other humans for miles around. That brought a dark thought into Lola's mind. Had Lana perhaps killed anyone who set foot in the woods. Lincoln has mentioned her being more territorial and hostile, especially after being captured and held captive by Luna, but Lola wasn't ready to believe that Lana could go that far.

Lola wouldn't be lonely for too long however as she noticed two eagles circling overhead. The way they seemed to be gazing at her seemed strange, but it was nothing to get up in arms about. Lola was so distracted by the eagles that she almost stepped on a snake slithering across the ground; a snake that made its displeasure known by hissing at her before crawling back into the forestry. Lola was aware that Lana could communicate with animals and even send them out to attack others, but these creatures didn't seem to have any intention of attacking her. Instead, they were just… watching her?

"Hmm, that's a little unsettling," Lola thought to herself. "But as long as they keep their distance, and don't ruin my hair for that matter, they can watch as much as they like. I'd hate to have to snap on one of these furry critters and I know that Lana would hate it even more."

As the eagles continued flying above her, seemingly following her every move, Lola tried to keep an ear out for any sound that was synonymous with her sister. Maybe a low intimidating growl, full fledged howling or even an animalistic roar, something that could help identify her. Lola then took a moment to consider that Lana could very well be in an animal form right now and might even be watching her at this moment while she was oblivious. As she approached the banks of a river, Lola took care to make sure she was aware of her surroundings. This opening presented the perfect chance for Lana to leap from the bushes and attack her. Lola became even more on guard when she spotted Lana's red hat lying on the ground off to the side, giving her more reason to be on guard. As Lola surveyed the area, she was surprised when Lana emerged not from some bushes or trees, but instead leapt from out of the river in the form of spear toothed shark with a large fish in its teeth. Lola watched as Lana changed from her aquarian form to her more familiar human in midair before landing perfectly on her feet. Lana, fish still in her mouth, reached down and picked up her hat before she noticed Lola.

"What the heck are you doing here!?" Lana asked, spitting the fish out of her mouth and onto the ground.

"What do you think I'm doing here?" Lola replied. "Do you really think that I'd willingly walk through this place if I weren't looking for you?"

"Well congratulations, you found me, you can leave now," Lana retorted harshly before taking a huge bite out of the fish. When Lola simply stood by and watched with a bored expression, she said "Can't you see I'm eating here? I told you to buzz off!"

"I'm not leaving without you," Lola stayed firmly. "I didn't come out here all this way for nothing."

"What's that?" Lana questioned. "You want me to go with you?" Lana transformed into a bear and walked over to Lola before standing on two legs, towering over her twin. "Let me guess, you're working with Lisa and Luna too and they sent you out here to fetch me, is that it!?"

Lola kept her calm and replied "Please, as if I'd work with those two. They're the reason I have to lay low in the first place."

"Oh, is that so?" Lana questioned, turning into a raptor. "In that case, I assume you're here on behalf of Lincoln to try coaxing me into joining him and Lynn, no? Well you can forget it, I don't need you guys to hold me-,"

"Oh, come on, Lana, drop the act," Lola said. "You can try to bolster and act like you don't need us, but I know for a fact that you miss us."

"What makes you so sure?" Lana snarled, her face inches away from Lola's. "How can you say such a thing with such confidence. For all you know, I hate all of you…"

"Lana, we came out of the womb together and grew up with each other for six years," Lola replied. "I know you like the back of my hand." Lola then sighed and said "But if you really hate me like you claim, why don't you do something about it?"

There were a few seconds of silence before Lana backed off and changed back into human form. "Alright, so maybe I don't hate you guys," Lana admitted. "Well, except for Lisa. I do hate her." She then asked "But why should I join forces with the likes of you? What do I have to gain from it?"

"Revenge," Lola answered. "I know for a fact that you're not so willing to let go of what Lisa did to you. All of us have a vested interest in taking her down. Think of it as sibling bonding."

"I didn't think I was so easy to read," Lana commented with a smirk. "Fine, I'll work with you guys, but after Lisa is dealt with, I…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't plan on sticking around, I know," Lola said. "Hey, I don't plan on staying behind either, I've got my own hobbies I've gotta maintain, you know."

Lana loosened up as Lola wrapped her arm around her and said with a smirk, "Yeah, but the more I think about it, teaming up with my sisters and oddball brothers to kick butt does sound like fun"

"See, I knew you'd warm up to the idea," Lola said with the twins sharing a laugh before Lana picked up the fish she'd been eating and took another bite out of it, causing Lola to look at her strange.

"Hey, cut me some slack," Lana said upon noticing Lola's look. "I haven't eaten lunch today and a girl's gotta eat."

* * *

Luna arrived at the pet cemetery shortly after ending the call with Lio. Now all that was left was waiting for him to show up. It couldn't have been more than 2 minutes since she'd gotten here, yet each passing second felt like an eternity past. Luna was starting to become anxious as she frequently looked from left to right, making sure she was alone. For some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched over and that made her all the more nervous. For a pet cemetery, this place was more like an open field, having very few places to hide and leaving one generally out in the open. Luna looked over at Sam, who she had gently placed on the ground under the cemetery's lone tree, and saw that she was starting to show more signs of life. She'd broken out into a sweat and was softly whimpering on the ground, though she remained unconscious.

"Come on, Lio, where are you?" Luna asked, starting to grow impatient. She briefly wondered if perhaps Lio had gotten tied up with something else or even worse, if he'd been captured. Her troubles were eased considerably when, as if to answer her question, Luna saw a familiar figure popping up from out of her own shadow. "Lio? Geez, what took you so long?"

"It's only been 3 minutes since we hung up on each other," Lio replied, confused but nonetheless apologizing. "I'm sincerely sorry if I kept you waiting as I tried getting here as soon as possible." He then asked Luna "Where's Sam?"

"Right under that tree," Luna answered, pointing Lio in Sam's direction. "It's only been about 10 minutes since I took her out of the pod, but already the symptoms are returning. I think she's broken out into a fever and I don't know if she can take much more before she succumbs to it. Do you think you can help her?"

"Well, if my powers worked on Haiku, I don't see why they wouldn't work on Sam," Lio said, walking over to where Sam lies and examining her for a few seconds before gently placing his hands on her forehead and right arm.

"Be gentle," Luna told him, nervously wringing her hands like it was the end of the world. "This won't hurt her, will it?"

"Don't worry, she won't feel a thing," Lio reassured her before his hands started to glow and Sam was enveloped in the same pink aura that surrounded Haiku when he had cured her. It only lasted for 2 seconds and was followed by silence.

Both Luna and Lio stood by motionless for several seconds, wondering if it had worked. Sam, for her part, still hadn't moved a muscle, although she was looking livelier for the most part. The color returned to her hair, with that trademark blue streak returning to its vibrant electric hue. Her skin went from being pale and deathly cold to the touch to being warm and radiant. Sam's breathing became a less shallow and more steady as she started to stir somewhat. For a split second, Sam opened her eyes, filling Luna with hope.

"Sam? Sam!" Luna called out to her. "Can you hear me!? Please, please wake up!"

Sam's eyes fluttered open and she was able to remain conscious long enough to make out both Luna and Lio's faces looking down at her. However, she was still weak and in a somewhat state of delirium to the point where she couldn't make out what they were saying. Though she didn't have much strength, she still felt better now than she had before she'd been frozen. Sam wondered how much time had passed since then before deciding that it didn't matter. She was just happy to see Luna's face again, something she displayed by flashing her a smile.

"Rockstar…" She whispered, weakly reaching her hand out to caress Luna's face before lapsing back into unconsciousness.

"Sam!" Luna cried, tempted to try shaking her awake again before Lio stopped her.

"Don't worry," He told her. "Though the virus has been purged from her system, her body is likely still adjusting to the sudden change. She should be okay."

"Which is more than what I can say for you two," The siblings heard a voice say. They turned their heads and saw that Lisa had found them and she was accompanied by a squadron of her androids. "I can't believe that you would betray me like this, Luna. After everything I've done for you." She said this with the most smug smirk on her face.

"Oh, you mean like planning to exploit my love for Sam to keep me under your thumb?" Luna retorted, counting just how many androids Lisa had with her. Things weren't looking good for them.

"Surely you didn't expect my charitable deeds to come without a price, did you?" Lisa replied with a cheeky grin before adjusting her glasses and saying "Fortunately, from day one I planned for something like this to happen. Hence, I placed a tracking chip within your cell phone so that I could track your every move." Lisa then looked at Lio and chuckled. "And oh, how sweet of you, you've lead me right to our troublesome brother. You're too kind."

Lio and Luna stood back to back, gearing up for a fight if they had to. Their chances of victory were very slim however. Not only were they outnumbered, but Luna didn't want to put Sam at risk after having just got her back and Lio was still dealing with untreated injuries from the fight with Luan. Luna reached into her pocket, opened up the back of her phone and removed the tracking device before crushing it in her palm. Seemingly standing her ground and ready to fight to the death, Luna created a cloud of snow to blind Lisa before impaling two of Lisa's androids with a giant icicle, setting off a brawl. Luna and Lio immediately dropped to the ground to avoid the ensuing hail of gunfire from Lisa's androids before Luna summoned several icicles from out of the ground to destroy 3 more of the machines.

"Halt! Hold your fire!" Lisa ordered her robots, confusing Lio and Luna. "I'd prefer it if you didn't slaughter my siblings! I want them captured alive, not in a body bag."

To Luna, Lisa's reasoning didn't matter. The moment she heard Lisa say "hold your fire", she made up her mind of what she was going to do next. Acting quickly, Luna picked Sam off the ground and hoisted her over her shoulders before making a run for it, leaving Lio behind.

"What are you doing!?" Asked a confused Lio, currently surrounded on all sides by androids. Being that they were essentially in an open field in broad daylight, there weren't enough shadows around for him to escape through them as he usually did. The tree he was standing under provided some shade, but after he left its range, he was a sitting duck.

"I'm sorry, Lio" Luna apologized to him, skating away. "But I just got my lovebird back, I can't lose her for a second time and possibly for good."

Despite the overwhelming odds he was facing, Lio knew he couldn't stand around and do nothing. He used the shade provided by the tree to land a few quick attacks on the machines before emerging behind them and attempting to make a run for it. He didn't make it very far before Lisa attacked him with her psychic stun, rendering him helpless for a few crucial seconds. Despite her main priority being escaping with Sam, Luna couldn't help but take a look back and see how Lio was faring. She regretted not being able to help him, but she had to ensure Sam's safety first.

"Luna! Please! Help me!" Lio begged, being swarmed by androids but fighting as hard as his injuries would allow him to.

"I'm sorry," Luna whispered, taking one last look at Lio as he was finally overwhelmed and knocked out with Lisa placing a collar around his neck, before taking off with Sam.

Lisa seemed to completely forget about Luna, something she was thankful for as she sped through the city. She felt genuine remorse for leaving Lio behind, but felt that it had to be done. At the very least she knew that Lisa wouldn't kill him, but that wasn't to say that the fate that awaited him was much better. Luna skated for several minutes until she was sure that she had lost Lisa and thrown her off. She didn't know where she was headed, she simply followed her instincts and let them guide her path. When she stopped, she found that she'd fled all the way to the high school and was standing just outside the door of the music classroom where she'd first met Sam. It wasn't the best place to hide, but it did bring her comfort and she guessed that was why she came here. Placing Sam on the ground, Luna gently played with her hair. Slowly, Sam started to stir, sitting up as soon as she could make out Luna's face.

"R-Rockstar?" She asked. "Is that? Is that really you? Am I seeing things?"

"No, you're not seeing things," Luna told her, barely able to contain her giddiness. "It's really me, here and in the fle-,"

Luna was cut off when Sam suddenly planted a quick kiss on her lips. The sudden romantic moment resulted in sparks flying, literally as Luna involuntarily jumped back after feeling an unexpected jolt.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Luna replied before giggling and explaining "It's just that you kinda gave me a bit of a shock when you kissed me… literally."

"Huh?" Sam responded, not knowing what Luna was talking about until a small arc of lightning shot out of her fingertips, giving Luna another small shock; one that Luna shook off without thought before hugging Sam.

"It worked! It actually worked!" Luna exclaimed, fighting the urge to literally jump for joy and instead settling for wrapping her arms around her girlfriend. "I can't believe it actually worked! You don't know how happy I am that you're okay!"

"I'm happy that I'm okay too," Sam said with a smile. "I wouldn't want to leave this world behind without you by my side." As more sparks and small bolts of electricity emerged from her body before quickly dying down, Sam giggled and said "I just wish that I could figure out what's going on with these electric sparks and everything."

"I'll try to explain it the best I can, but the basic gist of it is that you survived the virus and gained a superpower as a result," Luna tried to explain, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

"So I'm guessing that means I can control electricity?" Sam asked. "Cool. I always did. wanna go High Voltage like AC/DC." To test her powers, Sam walked over to an electrical socket and without sent a surge of electricity coursing through it, managing to turn on the lights to the room. "Whoa, sweet! So what powers do you have?"

"Allow me to show you," Luna said before crafting a crystalline rose made of ice in her hands and presenting it to Sam.

"Awww, Rockstar, that's so sweet of you," Sam said, grabbing the rose. Unfortunately, since she had just gained her powers only a couple minutes ago, she still didn't have a proper grasp on them, causing her to accidentally melt the rose with a shower of sparks. "Oops, sorry"

"Don't worry about it," Luna said with a giggle.

"So… how did you save me anyway?" Sam asked curiously.

"It wasn't me who cured you," Luna admitted. "It was my brother who did that since he has healing powers."

"Oh, that's right, I do remember seeing you and Lio before blacking out," Sam said. "I'm going to have to thank him and give him a huge hug next time I see him for helping me."

"Yeah… me too," Luna said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked. "Is Lio alright? Did something happen to him?"

"Well, he's still alive, but…" Luna started to say.

"But what?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You see, for the past few months, you'd been cryogenically frozen by my sister Lisa to save your life and I was working with her in exchange for her help," Luna started to explain. "Long story short, I eventually found out that she was just using me for her own means, including turning me against my other siblings, so I broke you out of there before meeting up with Lio so he could heal you. Lisa followed me however and ambushed us shortly after you were cured. We were surrounded and had no chance of winning. I didn't want Lisa to take you away from me again so I grabbed you and made a run for it."

"What about Lio?" Sam asked. "Did he escape with you too?"

Luna shook her head and said "I had no other choice, I couldn't help both of you. I made a split second decision and I…"

"You left your brother behind to be captured?" Sam asked in disbelief. "Luna…"

"It was either you or him!" Luna defended herself. "I know that it was a terrible thing to do and I regret having to leave him behind, but I wasn't going to let out reunion be cut short!"

Sam sighed and said "It's okay, I understand why you did what you did." She looked Luna in the eyes, gently grabbed her hands and said "We have to help your brother though. I don't know what your sister's done or what she plans on doing to him, but if she was willing to manipulate you so easily and turn you against your own family, I can't imagine it to be any good. We have to save him"

"I know," Luna said before getting an idea. "And I know just how we're going to do it and who to turn to. I just hope they can forgive me for all my dirty deeds."

_To Be Continued_

END ISSUE 12


	13. Issue 13: Loudest Mission, Save Lio Loud

Despite not wanting to risk being caught by Lisa, Luna and Sam knew that they couldn't stay hidden at the school if they wanted to rescue Lio. Luna knew all too well that it would take more than just the two of them to spring Lio free. They'd need the help of the other Louds for that task. In particular, Luna decided to seek out Lincoln. He was always quick witted and seemed to always have a plan on hand for whatever scenario arose. There were two issues with going to Lincoln however. The first was actually finding him and the second was getting him to trust her after the things she'd had done. Luna hoped that Sam's presence could help convince him to believe her pleas for help.

The duo waited until night fall and after checking to make sure the coast was clear, Luna and Sam left the school and began the search for Lincoln. Given his hero syndrome, it was almost guaranteed that Lincoln would appear wherever there was trouble, no matter how minor. Luna considered staging a scene in order to get his attention, but decided against it when she realized that doing so could also catch the attention of Lisa. Ultimately she decided that she should only use that method as a last resort if all else failed. Sam suggested splitting up so that they could cover more ground, but Luna didn't want to risk leaving her on her own to possibly be kidnapped.

Sticking to dark corners and alleyways, the pair swept Royal Woods looking for Lincoln with little luck. Two hours had passed since they'd started and they'd only covered a quarter of the town in that time period. There was still so much more area left to search and at the rate they were going, it could take all night. That was time they couldn't afford to waste, but it wasn't like they had any other choice but to keep looking. Luna was prepared for another few hours of dead end searching when the two caught the lucky break they were looking for. As they walked through the alley next to the pizzeria, they heard Lincoln's voice ring out.

"Man, I'm telling you, Clyde, this hero thing isn't half bad," Lincoln said, taking a bite out of a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Getting hooked up with a lifetime supply of free pizza for helping out a store owner kinda makes all the craziness I have to go through worth it. It's a reward in and of itself, not to mention it dulls the pain of the occasional beatings I have to endure."

"Think you can maybe share some of the spoils with your beleaguered assistant?" Clyde asked sarcastically with a laugh. "I mean, after all, you're gonna need someone to help you eat all that pizza."

"True," Lincoln said, sitting atop the roof and watching the people go about their day, seemingly unnoticed by them. "Wish I had this hookup back before all this started with all the fights that broke out over who got the last slice. At least this time there's enough to go around to keep a fight from breaking out."

"So I take it that means you're willing to share with us too?" Luna asked nervously, trying to break the ice.

"Luna!?" Lincoln asked in surprise and nearly jumped out of his skin. Not wanting to take any chances, he didn't hesitate to bind Luna's hands with his web. "I'm not going to waste time asking you why you're here! You're probably here to try and capture me, right?"

"No!" Luna replied. "Listen, Linc, I really need help right now and you're the first person that came to mind! Just try to listen to me!"

"What's going on?" Clyde asked Lincoln through his earpiece.

Lincoln kept his eyes squarely locked on Luna as he replied, "I don't know. Luna just randomly came from out of nowhere and now she says she needs my help."

"Wait, didn't you say that Luna was working with your sister, Lisa?" Clyde questioned. "Why would she need your help?"

"Exactly," Lincoln answered back. "This has to be a con or a trick or a trap or something."

"It's not a trap or a trick!" Luna insisted before Sam stepped out from behind her and backed up her claim, saying "She's telling the truth. This really isn't a trap."

"Sam?" Lincoln asked, not having expected to see her standing next to Luna. "No offense, Sam, but last I'd heard, you were a popsicle. In fact, you were the whole reason that Luna worked with Lisa in the first place, how are you standing here in what looks like perfect health?"

"You can thank your brother for my speedy recovery," Sam told him before Luna, looking down at her feet in shame, added "He's also the reason why we're here in the first place."

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked, growing concerned.

"I found out that Lisa was manipulating me so I cut my ties with her and brought Sam to Lio for her to heal," Luna elaborated. "It worked and Sam was cured of the virus, but soon afterwards Lisa ambushed us. We couldn't win the fight and I knew I had no choice but to run, so I grabbed Sam and did just that, making a speedy departure."

"And what happened to Lio?" Lincoln asked as he started to notice that it had been a while since he'd heard from his twin.

"I left him behind," Luna reluctantly admitted, prompting Lincoln to exclaim "WHAT!?" in a tone that made Luna flinch. Nonetheless, she tried to defend herself. "I didn't have a choice! I couldn't leave Sam behind a second time!"

"So I take it that Lio was captured by Lisa?" Lincoln asked with both Sam and Luna nodding their heads.

"That's why we came to you," Luna said. "You're always good at devising a plan and stuff so we figured that you could think of a way to help us bust him out."

"It's going to take more than just my help if we're going to rescue him," Lincoln said, pacing back and forth before asking Luna "You know the layout of Lisa's hideout, right?"

"Inside and out," Luna confirmed before remembering her encounters with Lynn and Lana. "Lynn and Lana might know some of the layout too since Lynn broke into the place and Lana was held there briefly."

"Which is good because we're going to need all the help we can get on this," Lincoln told them. He looked at Luna and asked "Before we go any further, do you promise me that you've completely cut ties with Lisa?"

"Yes, I swear!" Luna replied. "Seriously bro, I wouldn't lie about something this serious! Do you really think I'd be here right now if I wasn't telling the truth!?"

"I don't know," Lincoln replied, not even opting to make a quip and instead opting for brutal honesty, saying "For all I know, this could just be part of an elaborate ruse to lure us into trap. Heck, that could've been what you did to Lio. I love our brother and all, but let's face it, he's a bit of an idiot and rather easy to fool when it comes to his family. All you had to do is cry for help and he'd come running to your aid. And with the death of Luan, he'd be especially vulnerable to being tricked."

"How could you say that?" Luna asked, sounding genuinely hurt by Lincoln's accusation. "Do you really think I could be so cold blooded?"

"If you don't believe her, at least believe me," Sam pleaded with Lincoln. "I've been in a coma for months and literally just came out of it today. I have no reason to lie to you nor would I have reason to assist Lisa in any capacity. I can't blame you for distrusting Luna, but ask yourself if you really think that she'd lie to and manipulate the same person she went through so much trouble to save?"

Lincoln took that into consideration before making his decision, telling Luna "Alright, I believe you and we'll accept your help." He then warned Luna "But if you even so much as think of double crossing us, we'll make sure you regret it."

"You have my word that I won't betray you," Luna assured him before Lincoln nodded his head and said "Alright, come on, let's go meet with the others. We don't have much time to waste" With that being said, Lincoln lead Luna and Sam to Lucy's batcave, making sure not to forget his pizza all the while.

"We're trying to save our brother and you're more concerned about your pizza?" Luna chastised him.

"It's _free pizza_," Lincoln pointed out, swinging from building to building as Sam and Luna made sure to keep up with him. "And like the meme says, any time is pizza time!"

* * *

Lio's vision was somewhat hazy when he finally awoke. Taking a look around, he found that he was in a brightly lit padded room. So brightly lit in fact that Lio squinted from the overbearing light shining down on his face. There was not a single shadow within his view that could help him out of his predicament. Not that that would help him as when he tried to sit up, he found that he was tightly strapped to an examination table in a T position. If it weren't for the fact that his head were still swimming, he would've struggled a little bit more trying to break free. Instead he threw his head back and rested.

For a couple of seconds, Lio struggled to remember how he had even got here in the first place before the memory came rushing back to him. He remembered that Luna had left him behind on his own to fend off Lisa and shortly after that, everything went blank. Much to Lio's relief, he found that the collar Lisa had placed on his neck was nowhere to be found, meaning that theoretically he could use his powers. Lio also found that he'd been stripped of his coat and undershirt, leaving him in just a white muscle tee.

Lio couldn't help but wince in discomfort at just how tightly he was strapped down. There were four straps restraining each of his arms. Two held down his wrists, there was one just below his shoulders and one right above his elbows. There was a single strap across his waist and three straps on each of his legs. One for his thighs, one holding down each of his knees and then one for his ankles. And every single one of the leather straps were digging into his skin, leaving raw red marks and slight bruising all over his body. Even if he did have all his strength, Lio couldn't go anywhere no matter how hard he struggled.

Lio let out a sigh and started to contemplate his fate. Even though Luna had left him behind, Lio hoped that Sam was okay. He wondered if anyone even knew where he was. Would Luna relay the message of his capture to the others or would she leave him to his fate? His thoughts then drifted to everything that had happened over the past two weeks. It all seemed so surreal to him. No matter how much time had passed, Lio would never get used to having superpowers and being in conflict with his family. As he regained some more of his strength, Lio tried to see if he could perhaps move his hand in a way that he could undo the straps holding down his wrist.

Just as he was doing that, the door to his cell opened and Lisa entered the room. Naturally, her stepping into the room meant that she cast a shadow, but Lisa was smart enough to stay out of Lio's reach so that he couldn't use that fact to escape. Instead, she stood on the other side of the room and watched Lio for a couple minutes before she smirked at him and started to speak.

"I do hope that you appreciate the accommodations we made for you," She said in that smug voice. "After all, you are an esteemed guest while in our presence."

"This is a rather strange way to treat your 'esteemed guests'," Lio snarked. "You know, with the whole tying them up and everything."

"Just want to make sure you don't think of going anywhere," Lisa replied. "I mean, after all the trouble we went through to find you, it would just be so rude for you to walk out on us. We even had the common courtesy to treat those nasty injuries you'd been walking around with for who knows how long."

"Well maybe if _you_ didn't _kill_ one of our sisters and try capturing the rest of your family while trying to take over the world, I'd be a bit more willing to stay," Lio answered back, venom dripping from his voice. Just as he'd been with Luan, Lio wasn't completely convinced that this was his sister standing before him. While Lio would always love his sister, he couldn't hide the animosity he felt towards her at this moment.

"Are you still caught up on that?" Lisa asked, walking in circles around Lio, taunting him by making sure her shadow stayed just outside of his range. "As I explained back at that twisted amusement park of horrors, certain actions had to be taken to ensure the safety of the general public for the greater good. Do you think I found joy in having to execute one of my own?" Lisa shook her head and remarked "Tsk, tsk. I'm not some type of sociopath. I have empathy and the ability to feel remorse for my actions and while I regret doing what I did, I recognize that it had to be done."

"You feel remorse?" Lio replied sarcastically. "Heck, you could've fooled me."

"You know, if one really thinks about it, I'm not the one who killed Luan," Lisa said, smiling evilly at Lio and saying "_You _are the one who killed her."

"What?" Lio asked flatly. That was the only thing he could say to Lisa's ludicrous accusation.

"You heard me, you're Luan's killer," Lisa reiterated before elaborating. "I mean, after all, _you're _the one who dropped her off that bridge."

"Yeah, because she forced me to let go so that I wouldn't be dragged down with her!" Lio argued. "We wouldn't even have been in that situation if you hadn't ambushed us!"

"And guess who it was who lead me right to Luan?" Lisa retorted, continuing to pace around a helpless Lio. "You're just way too predictable and sentimental for your own good. That's what got you here in the first place."

"You know, I've been hearing that accusation be thrown at me a lot lately," Lio said. "I'm too naive, I'm too emotional, I'm too sentimental, the whole nine yards. But what am I supposed to be!? Am I supposed to be some cold, heartless, emotionless monster who turns his back on his family!? Is that it, huh!?"

"Calm down, there's no need to shout," Lisa said. "All I'm saying is look where your dedication to your family got you. Let me tell you that if the roles were reversed and you or Luna called me to help you revitalize one of your disease stricken friends… I would hang up and leave you both on your own without a second thought."

Stunned, Lio could only ask in awe "How could you be so cold?"

"And how could you be so stupid!?" Lisa retorted, seemingly losing her temper and patience with Lio. "When will you learn to grow up!? This isn't some cheesy 80s sitcom or some cartoon! We're not the happy go lucky family we used to be and we never will be again! You need to learn to accept that fact instead of clinging to the past! That's your problem! You're so desperate to get back the life you once had and that you were used to that you'll blindly put yourself in danger in pursuit of your fantasy of a goal!"

Lio fell silent and Lisa couldn't help but to taunt him. "What? No denial? No witty remark? Oh wait, that's more Lincoln's thing. Still, you've grown awfully quiet, do you really have no rebuttal?" When Lio failed to respond, Lisa only replied with "Typical"

"So what did you even bring me here for in the first place?" Lio asked. "If this was really about keeping me locked away so I wouldn't sabotage your plan for a cure, then you wouldn't have tied me down like this without that power cancellation collar or whatever it is."

"Well, aren't we quite the deductive one?" Lisa replied. "You are right however. It's actually ironic, in my studies to find a cure, I've discovered that while you and your healing powers are the biggest obstacle to my goals, they may also be the key ingredient I was missing in the development of my cure."

"What are you talking about?" Lio asked, completely confused and unaware of where Lisa was going with this.

"Allow me to demonstrate," Lisa said before she pulled out a scalpel and sliced her open her own arm.

"What the heck are you doing!?" Lio asked in disbelief. "How is you cutting yourself supposed to demonstrate anything!?"

"You'll see," Lisa said before hitting Lio with a psychic stun to keep him incapacitated while she used the same scalpel to cut her one of his fingers. Lisa then allowed some of Lio's blood to drip onto her cut, healing her wound in a matter of seconds. "Do you see it now Lio?"

"Whoa…" was the only thing Lio could say in response to seeing what just unfolded.

"Now do you see why capturing you was vital?" Lisa asked him. "Your healing powers are so potent that even your very blood is capable of treating others near instantaneously. Heck, even so much as a single drop, maybe even so little as a single cell, can act as a remedy to any ailment. Thus, it is the final component missing from my own form of a cure."

"So you plan on milking my blood like I was some cow just so you can make some fraudulent cure?" Lio asked.

"Don't be ridiculous," Lisa scoffed. "For the time being, all I need is one pint of your blood." With that, Lisa pulled out a needle and hit Lio with another psychic stun so that he'd be incapable of using his powers while she drew his blood. With a mocking grin, she remarked, "Now you may feel some slight discomfort…"

Finding a vein, Lisa plunged the needle into Lio's arm and began drawing blood. While he was too dazed to use his powers or even move around much, Lio was still conscious enough to grimace in pain as soon as the needle penetrated his skin. The process felt like it took forever, but after a couple of minutes, Lisa had withdrawn all the blood she'd needed, contained within a convenient vial. After she was finished, Lio was left feeling a little lightheaded.

"There, all done," Lisa said as she removed the needle from Lio's arm. "I know we've had our disagreements, but I extend my sincerest thank you to you for all you've helped me achieve." While Lio was still dazed, Lisa placed the collar back around his neck. "By tomorrow, the world will know that I, Lisa Loud, have single handedly found a cure to one of the most devastating diseases in the history of Royal Woods." She smiled sinisterly and added "And after that, I can move onto phase two of my master plan."

"Why?" Lio asked. "Why are you doing all this? What happened to you to cause you to chase power by any means necessary?"

"The answer to that question is simple, elder brother," Lisa said, growing somber and more serious as she explained, "While we were crippled by this debilitating virus, I realized that I was squandering my potential. I am one of the greatest scientific minds this world has ever seen, yet I was wasting my time with frivolous pastimes. Lio, you don't get it. All of us were blessed with a second chance of life. I'm simply taking advantage of that fact and using my full potential."

"But is this really the best way to go about doing so?" Lio asked.

Lisa nodded and said "Yes, it is. My success means the success of the world and soon you'll see that for yourself."

Lisa then turned and exited the room, leaving Lio alone once again with nothing but his thoughts. This time, the only thing the young boy could think about were Lisa's words as they echoed repeatedly in his head.

* * *

To say that the other sisters were surprised by Luna's presence would be an understatement. To say that they were none too happy with her appearance would be the equivalent of diving into the Mariana Trench and summarizing "It is deep". The only ones present who didn't seem to have an issue with Luna being around were Leni, Lola, and Chris. Upon seeing Luna accompanying Lincoln, the first thing Lana did was change into a cheetah and pounce onto the unsuspecting ice queen.

"You've got some nerve showing your face around here!" She snarled before she extended a paw towards Lincoln and said "And you've got some nerve bringing this traitor here to the rest of us!"

"Wait, I can explain!" Lincoln and Luna said simultaneously as Lana raised her paw to slash at Luna.

"Explain what?" Lynn scoffed. "Why you thought it was a good idea to bring along Lisa's right hand woman after everything she's taken part in?"

"Okay, I know that I did some pretty messed up things…" Luna started to say before being interrupted by Lynn.

"Messed up doesn't even begin to describe the things you've done!" Lynn told her. "You helped Lisa kidnap and freeze innocent people to use as test subjects for her sick science!"

"And you barged into my home, attacked my forest friends and kidnapped me to be locked up in some cage!" Lana spat.

"Not to mention that you literally tried capturing me, Lucy, and Haiku at Lisa's behest." Lori pointed out.

"I know, I know," Luna said.

"Then give me one good reason why I shouldn't maul you right here and now!" Lana hissed, her face inches from Luna's.

"Because she's not here to fight any of you," Sam spoke up. The others had been so fixated on Luna that they had forgotten Sam was with her. "We're here because we need all of your guys' help."

"Sam?" Lola asked. "I thought that you were sick and in a coma?"

"She was," Lincoln said. "Until she made a sudden recovery"

"Sudden recovery?" Lucy asked before deducing what had happened. "If you're here alive and well then that means that…"

"Yeah, I kinda got help from another sibling of ours when it came to healing Sam," Luna explained, rubbing the back of her neck. "I had to when I found out that Lisa was only using me."

"Well duh, anyone could've told you that," Lynn remarked.

"I was desperate, okay!" Luna shouted as Lana reluctantly let her up to her feet. "I mean, in the back of my mind I always knew that she was, but I just grinned and bore it because of…"

"Because of me," Sam finished the sentence for her.

"Yeah," Luna said with a nod. "I always thought that Lisa would keep her end of the bargain, but boy was I a fool for thinking that."

"I hate to be rude, but does this have a point?" Lola asked. "I mean, why are you here in the first place?"

"It's about Lio," Lincoln answered for them. "Lisa got her hands on him after he healed Sam and cured her of the virus."

"We have to break him out of there," Luna said. "It's my fault he was kidnapped in the first place, but I can't do it alone."

"Hmpf, having been captured by Lisa, I can tell you it's not fun," Lana said, changing back into human form. "Lio's probably being held in some tiny cage like some sort of animal right now as we speak. Although then again, considering Lisa mentioned him as being at the top of her list, he may be facing an even worse fate."

"Which is why we have to save him," Sam said.

"So how are we going to break him out?" Chris asked, speaking up for the first time. "I mean, we can't just all go charging in there with reckless abandon no matter how powerful we are."

"Especially since Lisa's likely taken into account the possibility of all of us storming her headquarters at once," Lincoln added. "We can't let her use our family instincts as bait to lure us into a trap."

"Then what are we going to do?" Leni asked.

"I think I may have an idea," Lincoln said. "As we said, we can't bring everyone along for this mission, I'd say we need only 5 people at most to pull this off. Lynn, Luna, and Lana would be obvious choices since they how the building is designed. Now the best plan would be to sneak in undetected, find Lio and escape without being noticed…"

"I'll definitely be able to help in that regard," Lynn said. "When I broke into Paxton Industries a couple of weeks ago, I used my electric powers to make myself invisible to the human eye. Walked right in without any problems."

"Really?" Sam asked. "In that case, maybe I should tag along too since electrokinesis is my main power. Maybe you could teach me that trick."

"It's actually pretty easy," Lynn said. "It just takes a little practice and you'll have it down. Here, I'll show you" Lynn grabbed Sam by her hand and using her electric abilities, rendered both Sam and herself invisible to the others.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Sam asked.

"I don't know how to explain it scientifically," Lynn admitted. "But it basically involves using the electricity in the air to cloak myself from others' view. It takes some concentration, but once you get it down, it's easy to pull off. See if you can keep it up."

Lynn let go of Sam's hand and with her full focus, Sam managed to maintain her invisibility. She was amazed that she could pull it off, but tried not to think too hard about it as she walked around the cave completely unseen by the others.

"Wow, that was awesome!" Sam exclaimed as she became visible again, standing between Lana and Luna.

"I guess that means Sam's tagging along too," Lincoln said.

"Well of course," Sam said, wrapping an arm around Luna. "I'm not letting Rockstar just jump into a dangerous situation without me at her side, you know?"

Lana huffed and said "While I'm all for getting my hands on Lisa, I'm still a little reluctant to take place in anything involving Miss Freeze over here. I just don't trust her. How do we know she hasn't been leading Lisa to our hideout as we speak?"

"There's an easy way for me to determine if she's telling the truth," Lucy announced. "Part of my empath abilities involve reading a person's emotions. While I can't fully read their thoughts, I can determine whether they're lying or not. I find this 'lie detecting' ability to be most effective when asking simple yes or no questions."

Lucy floated over to Luna and asked her two simple questions. "Are you still working for Lisa?"

"No," Luna answered and through scanning her emotions, Lucy could tell that without a shadow of a doubt that she was telling the truth.

"Do you plan on betraying us at any point?" Lucy then asked her.

"No," Luna answered and once again Lucy confirmed that she was being truthful.

"She's clean," Lucy told the others. "No deceit in her intentions that I could detect."

"Fine, I guess we'll put aside our differences for this," Lana said. "But just to be clear, I'm only doing so so that I can get my hands on that Poindexter. If any of you try and get in my way, I'll give you the same treatment that I give her."

"Have we even decided which 5 of us are going?" Lynn asked.

Lincoln nodded and said "You, me, Luna, Sam, and Lana. You and Sam can make the rest of us invisible and Lana can transform into an ant so that she isn't seen. In addition to that fact, you, Lana, and Luna can guide us through the hallways until we find both Lio and Lisa."

"What about the rest of us?" Haiku asked.

"The rest of you stay behind here in the event that something goes wrong," Lincoln told them. "Should our plans go awry, Lucy can use her portals to teleport to our location and get us out of there in a jiffy."

"If I could make a suggestion," Chris spoke up. "If we want to rescue Lio, why don't we just use Lucy's sibling tracking ability to find where he's being held, have Lucy teleport us there and then get back out?"

"Because, this isn't just about saving Lio," Lana said. "This is about making Lisa pay for what she's done and stopping her from carrying out her sick plans!"

"Not to mention that I've been trying that for the past ten minutes," Lucy said. "Remember, in order for me to get a feel on where one of my siblings is located, I have to be able to detect their emotions and right now I'm getting… nothing."

"What do you think that means?" Haiku asked.

"It could mean one of two things," Lucy said. "One, that Lio's in an emotionally blank state at the moment or two, that he's… dead."

There was a collective gasp throughout the cave with Leni asking "You don't think Lisa actually killed Lio, do you?"

"Really?" Lana scoffed. "Do you really think she's not capable of such a thing after she killed Luan and almost killed me? Especially after she mentioned Lio's healing powers being the biggest threat to her development of a cure? Of course she could've killed him!"

That instantly darkened the whole mood, prompting Lucy to exclaim "Of course, there's another simpler explanation in that he could simply unconscious."

"I guess that takes my suggestion off the table," Chris said. "I don't know, I just don't know how I feel about letting my girlfriend go into this alone."

"You left me alone for six months with no problem," Lynn replied, half playfully and half serious. "I'm sure you can go an hour without me."

"I guess I'm never going to hear the end of that, huh?" Chris chuckled. "Still, at least allow me to give you a good luck kiss before you head out" He said, kissing Lynn on the cheek, causing her to blush.

"Thanks," Lynn said.

"We'll keep in touch while we're out," Lincoln told the others, handing Lucy a headset. "We'll call you guys if things go wrong."

"We'll be ready," Lucy told him.

"I'd advise you to also be ready to pick us up and teleport us out of there after we find Lio and take care of Lisa," Luna advised her. "Because I have a feeling that we're going to have a serious fight on our hands."

"C'mon guys," Lincoln said to Lynn, Lana, Luna, and Sam. "Let's go save our brother."

As they left, Lynn said to Lincoln "This totally isn't going to go according to plan, is it?"

"It almost never does," Lincoln said with a sigh and a smirk.

* * *

When the five arrived at Paxton Industries headquarters, they wasted no time getting to business. Two guards stood outside the main entrance, armed with carbon rifles and ready to shoot on sight at anyone they thought was trespassing. Lana transformed herself into an ant and crawled onto Lincoln's arm as Lynn and Sam used their powers to make the group invisible to get around them. The group walked right past the oblivious guards, with Lynn even taking the time to taunt them by waving her hand in front of their faces and sticking her tongue out at them before Lincoln tugged at her and silently reminded her that they had to get a move on. The five walked right through the doors and saw that in addition to the front desk receptionist in the lobby, there were another set of guards with one standing in each corner of the room with two guards standing right in front of the elevator.

"Man, they really beefed up security since I broke in, haven't they?" Lynn quietly whispered as they all pondered how they were going to get onto the elevator without raising suspicions.

"Yeah, after you breached the lab, Lisa decided that she didn't want to take any chances of anyone without authorization stumbling upon her work," Luna explained. "Now you can't even so much as use the elevator without some guard breathing down your neck."

"So how are we going to get past them?" Lana asked.

"I think I might have an idea," Sam said before walking over to an electric outlet and working her magic. Through the use of her powers, she made the lights flicker on and off several times while also affecting the receptionist's computer and telephone, essentially simulating the effects of a blackout.

"Hey, are you guys seeing this?" The receptionist asked two of the guards. "What's with these flickering lights?" She then glanced at her computer screen and saw it go blank for a split second before suddenly coming back to life. "And now my computer's giving me trouble? You don't think the big man forgot to pay the electric bill, do you?"

"Nah," one of the guards answered. "It's probably just a side effect of the work those geeks are doing in the basement. I'm sure it's nothing."

"I sure hope not," the receptionist replied. "Because let me tell you, I don't get paid enough to deal with this stuff"

"There's our opening," Sam whispered to the others as she walked over to the elevator, placed on hand on the doors and caused them to open. Immediately, the two elevator guards aimed their weapons towards the elevator cabin, wondering who was hitching an unauthorized ride. When they saw that no one was inside, they lowered their weapons and carried on with business as if nothing had happened, dismissing the malfunction as an aftermath of the brief blackouts. "Come on, now's our chance"

The others wasted little time boarding the elevator unseen, with Luna immediately pressing the button to go down to the basement. As they descended, the group took time to discuss their strategy and what would be the best approach, with Luna informing them of some obstacles that could get in their way.

"You know, given how many guards we encountered at the front door and in the lobby alone, I'm actually surprised that Lisa doesn't have guards stationed within the actual elevator," Lincoln quipped.

"Ha, she clearly didn't learn from last time," Lynn took a second to gloat. "As if some guards and robot toys are going to be enough to stop me!"

"Remember, we're not going into this loud and dumb," Lincoln reminded her. "We're not going to look for a fight right away. Our first priority is to find Lio, then we'll deal with Lisa."

"Or, hear me out," Lana said. "We can split up into two groups, one to find Lio and the other go find Lisa."

"As long as we don't directly cross paths with the androids in the process, we should be okay," Luna said. "Our invisibility isn't going to fool them since they're equipped with infrared vision. They'd be able to see right through us in a heartbeat."

"I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I wasn't expecting this many hurdles" Sam said.

"That's Lisa for you," Luna said. "She's always crazy prepared for any given situation. There was no way she was going to make this easy for us."

"Man, I hope I don't have to knock out anymore scientists to obtain their keycards," Lynn said as the elevator came to a halt. "I just barely avoided making a scene last time I was here"

"No need," Luna said, pulling out a keycard of her own. "I still have the keycard that Lisa gave me. Figured it might come in handy if I ever had to come back here."

"Sure seems odd that you _planned_ to one day come back to this place," Lana said, shooting Luna a glance.

"Shh, quiet everyone," Lincoln said as the elevator doors began to open. "We can argue about this some other time, right now let's focus on a mission."

Once they were out of the elevator, Lynn guided the group through the hallways until they came across the entrance to the lab. As to be expected, there were four armed guards standing outside the door. Getting through them would be their first challenge. They needed a distraction of some sorts to draw the guards attention away from their task. That's where Lana came in handy, putting her powers to good use as she transformed into a mosquito and flew around each of the guard's head, even landing on one's neck and biting him. Naturally, this prompted the guards to go into a frenzy, trying to swat the mosquito away from them like it was the end of the world. Unfortunately for the guards, brains weren't their strong suit as they were so caught up in catching Lana that they ended up accidentally hitting each other and didn't even notice Luna using her keycard to open the door.

"I know I shouldn't be complaining and all, but Lisa really needs to hire better help," Lincoln whispered, watching the guards flail about like children. "Maybe hire goons who have at least graduated third grade. Just a thought."

Once the door was open, Lana kept the guards distracted a little bit longer before rejoining the others and following them into the lab, with Sam making her invisible once again. Upon making it inside, the group decided to split up.

"Alright, I'll go with Luna and Sam to find Lio," Lincoln whispered, pointing to Lynn and Lana and saying "You two see if you can find Lisa."

"A word of advice, while this lab is huge, Lisa does have her own private office somewhere down here," Luna informed Lynn and Lana. "It might be difficult to find, heck, I've only been there one time so I couldn't tell you where to look, but once you find it, it's impossible to miss."

"Got it," Lynn said, giving a thumbs up.

"After all this is over and done, we'll meet back up here before having Lucy get us out of here, sound good?" Lincoln asked.

Lynn, Lana, Luna and Sam all nodded with Lana saying "You don't have to tell me twice" before setting off to find Lisa, with Lynn following close behind.

The trio of Luna, Sam, and Lincoln began their search, with Luna guiding them first to the kennel. Sure, that was where the animals were housed, but Luna figured that it was worth a shot looking there since that was where Lisa had Lana contained. There were at least a hundred cages full of animals that needed to be looked through, but the three of them didn't let that deter them, taking a glimpse at each and every cage in hopes of finding the introverted brother. Despite the fact that they were invisible, some of the animals, such as dogs, could still sense the trio's presence, causing them to bark and screech angrily. The commotion not only disrupted the group's search, but also caught the attention of a couple of scientists, who stormed into the room to calm the animals down. Lincoln, Luna and Sam made sure to stand out of their way to avoid being detected by them.

"Hey, quiet down, ya filthy mutts!" One of the scientists yelled. "I know this concept may seem foreign to you filthy animals, but we're trying to work."

When that failed to get the dogs to calm down, the second scientist pulled out a dog whistle and blew into it, causing the dogs to whimper and cover their ears. "That ought to get them to shut up" She said. "I wonder what got them so riled up in the first place."

"Probably just saw something that they wanted to chase after," the first one guessed. "Either way, let's get back to our studies."

"Man, if Lana was treated the same way these animals were treated, it's no wonder she's so determined to get her hands on Lis," Lincoln whispered after the scientists had left the room.

"Yeah," Sam said, nodding her head in agreement. "Also, call it a hunch, but I don't think your brother's in here"

"I think you're right," Luna said. "If he was, he would've at least seen and called out to us."

"So where else do we look?" Lincoln asked. "Does this place have any jail cells or holding cells for prisoners or something?"

"Not exactly prison cells, but there are padded rooms that are used whenever someone is quarantined or loses them mind and goes mental," Luna answered. "The only problem is that there are dozens of those cells and it'd take us a while to look through all of them."

"Hey, it's not like we have anything better to do," Lincoln said, asking Luna. "I can't think of anywhere else where he'd be contained. Could you lead us to these cells?"

"Sure thing," Luna said, turning and leading the way for the trio.

Meanwhile, Lynn and Lana were sneaking through the hallways of the lab, keeping as low profile as they could while looking for Lisa's lab. They corridors were so long and intertwined so frequently that it almost felt like walking through a maze trying to navigate them. They might even have gotten lost a couple of times if Lana hadn't had the bright idea to transform into a dog in order to pick up Lisa's scent and find her through that. That tactic lead them right to Lisa's private quarters which, true to Luna's word, was impossible to miss unless one was blind. Lisa's name was written on the door in bold gold plated letters, with her own self portrait displayed directly underneath it.

"Wow, just when I thought she couldn't stroke her ego any further," Lana muttered, about to kick open the door before Lynn stopped her.

"Hold on a minute," Lynn said. "I think I can hear her talking about something important."

"So?"

"So… this may be an opportunity to get evidence of her crimes," Lynn said, pulling out her phone and using the recording app to record everything Lisa said. Neither Lynn and Lana were prepared for what they heard.

"Just as I suspected, Lio's blood was the final missing component to my remedy for the virus," Lisa said to herself. "I dare even say that I can go even further and market it as a cure all for every conceivable disease known to man. Of course, that's not to say that this is entirely good news. A single pint of blood will only go so far and while I was hoping that I wouldn't have to resort to such tactics, I may indeed have to continually draw blood from my brother every 48 hours to ensure I have a substantial enough supply for my research and further experimentation."

"Did she? Did she just admit that she wants to milk our brother for his blood?" Lana asked, not sure if she heard her right. "Wow, she really has lost her marbles."

"And here I thought Lucy was the vampire," Lynn quipped before the two fell quiet once again as Lisa continued speaking.

"There is also another problem I face," Lisa said. "My attempts to engineer the cure into a mind control serum have proven fruitless for the very same reason that cure is a success. Lio's blood not only has healing abilities, but restoration abilities as well, being able to restore something to a previous state. With every attempt I make at modifying the formula, the sample Lio's blood detects an "irregularity" and returns it to an "untainted" state of being. Even when he is inadvertently helping me, my brother finds a way to become a thorn in my side. So far, I have had no luck in finding a way around this caveat. In the end, I may have no choice but to release the cure as is, but I am not prepared to declare this experiment a complete failure just yet."

"She's quite persistent," Lana whispered. "I'm going to enjoy destroying her little pet project right in front of her."

"While I may not be able to forcibly take control of people's minds, I can still use this development to sway public interest into my favor and seize power," Lisa said. "I know it's only a matter of time before the rest of my family come in an attempt to rescue Lio. An act which works perfectly for me as it allows me to wrap up all my loose ends at once."

Lana and Lynn were interrupted in their eavesdropping when they heard a robotic voice behind them order "Halt trespassers!"

"What do you know? Right on cue," Lisa quipped as Lynn and Lana turned around to find two androids standing before them, having sneaked upon them while they were listening in and seeing right through their invisibility.

"And just like that, the plan has gone off the rails," Lynn quipped before smirking and adding "Just as I thought it would."

Without another word, Lynn and Lana attacked the two androids in front of them, with Lana changing into a tigress and ripping it to pieces while Lynn settles for simply punching the robot through the chest. Lisa exited her office shortly afterwards and though she couldn't see either of the two, she still knew that they were there.

"Alright, come on out," Lisa said coldly. "Let's go ahead and get this over with. I'm a busy woman and I have things to do."

"If you insist!" Lana snarled as she and Lynn dropped the invisibility, with Lana pouncing at Lisa, who sidestepped and telekinetically grabbed Lana by her throat before being punched by Lynn.

"I knew that you would break in eventually," Lisa said as she picked herself up off the ground. "All of you are so foolish and easy to predict that I'm almost tempted to laugh at how easy it-,"

Lisa was interrupted when Lynn fired a lightning bolt at her; something that Lisa was just barely able to deflect with a psychic barrier, resulting in an explosion.

"Save your monologues for later," Lynn told her. "It's the end of the road for you."

* * *

Back with Luna, Sam, and Lincoln, the three of them heard the explosion as they came across a hall filled with padded cells. True to Luna's word, there were dozens of cells on each side of them, each with heavy fortified doors didn't allow even a slight peek inside of them.

"By the sounds of that "Boom", I'd guess that all chaos has broken loose," Sam said.

"Took a little longer than expected if I'm being honest," Lincoln wisecracked. "That means we don't have a lot of time, we have to find Lio."

"But he could be in any one of these rooms," Luna pointed out. "How are we going to search all of them?"

"I think I have an idea," Lincoln said before shooting a series of web at each and every door in rapid succession. When he was finished, Lincoln stood in the center of the hallway and pulled on his webs as hard as he could, using his super strength to force the doors open. "Now let's have a look see and see what we can find."

The trio split up, with each of them looking into one room each at a time. Most of the rooms were empty, but a few contained crazed straitjacketed former test subjects, who immediately charged at the heroes as soon as they caught a glimpse of them, forcing the former to slam the door shut in their face. In the midst of all this, Luna could hear a soft moan coming from a cell marked with the number 7.

"Guys, I think I found him!" Luna told the others, gesturing to Lincoln and Sam to follow her.

After closing the door to the remaining cells, Lincoln and Sam ran over to Luna and looked inside, where they found Lio, strapped to an examination table and looking rather pale.

"Lio? Lio!" Luna called his name, catching his attention.

"Huh?" Lio muttered, still a little lightheaded after having his blood taken. He slowly snapped out of his stupor and regained his senses as the others rushed to his aid. "You guys actually came back for me?"

"Well duh," Lincoln said as the three of them ran over to Lio and began unstrapping him from the table. "You didn't expect us to just let you rot in here, did you?"

"I'm really sorry about leaving you behind to get captured," Luna apologized to him as she undid the straps securing his wrists.

"Admittedly, I'm a bit surprised that you're here too," Lio said. "After escaping with Sam, I thought that you'd forget all about me."

"Not a chance, little bro" Luna told him as the others finally finished freeing him from his restraints.

"So are you alright?" Sam asked Lio. "You don't look so good. What did your sister do to you?"

"Nothing really," Lio answered as he took a few seconds to rub his wrists, which were discolored with red raw abrasions from being bound for so long, alleviating some of the irritation he felt. "Aside from using her psychic powers on me and draining me of some blood."

Lio got off the table and tried standing up, only to find that he was still more lightheaded than he thought, causing him to become dizzy and drop to one knee. Lincoln quickly came to his aid, helping him to stand upright as he shook his head to try regaining his composure.

"You know, I think she may have taken a little too much blood from me," Lio said with a cheeky chuckle before pointing to the corner where his coat lied on the floor and asking Sam "If it's not too much trouble, do you think you can grab my jacket for me?"

"Sure thing, dude" Sam said, going to grab his coat while Luna started tending to the collar around his neck.

"Meanwhile, I'll work on getting this thing off of you," She said, messing with the lock for a few minutes before she finally managed to undo it.

"Thank you, all of you," Lio said, putting on his jacket before testing to make sure he could still use his powers by disguising himself within Lincoln's shadow for a few seconds. He then smirked and said "Nice to know that collar's effects aren't permanent."

"Um, guys, we've got company" Lincoln announced, pointing out the twenty or so androids that were headed their way.

"Guess we made a little too much of a commotion with our rescue" Luna said.

"Fortunately, with the four of us fighting together, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle" Sam said, something she proved by immediately charging two of the robots, placing her hands on their chest and siphoning electricity from their units until they were little more than oversized paper weights. The move left Sam feeling a surge of power rushing through her body. "Huh, you know the funny thing is: I didn't even know if I could do that. I just wanted to see what would happen if I tried."

"Well, I for one am glad you did try," Lincoln said, using his webs to grab the two powerless androids and send them crashing into their fellow machines like some sort of mace, taking out three more androids in the process.

Two robots tried sneaking up on Lincoln from behind, only for Lio to emerged from his shadow and nail them both with an uppercut. As he was still getting used to being freed from his predicament, Lio felt himself become lightheaded again. In an effort to keep from collapsing yet again, Lio reaches out to the two nearest objects for support with those objects being the two androids. It did him little good however as Lio lost his balance and slipped. To save himself from the hard impact that awaited him, Lio made a split second decision and disappeared back into Lincoln's shadow. As he was still holding onto the androids, he ended up pulling them into Lincoln's shadow with him.

"Hmm?" Lio questioned, confused by what had just happened. "Did I just pull these guys into the shadows with me? Strange?"

Lio had little time to think however as the androids charged at him. His fight or flight kicking in, Lio threw a punch at them and much to his surprise, ending up punching clean through the robot menaces, causing them to fall apart.

"I guess we're all discovering new tricks today" Lio mused before emerging from his hiding place, bringing both himself and the robots' wreckage back into the real world.

Luna, Sam, and Lincoln were doing a good job at holding off the robots, with Sam discharging her excess of electricity to create a shockwave that took out 5 androids at once. Luna wasn't a slouch in the fight either, alternating between freezing the mechas solid, impaling them with ice spears and decapitating them with a scythe made out of ice.

* * *

Despite facing two on one odds, Lisa was giving both Lana and Lynn a run for their money. She made sure to shield herself from their attacks with her psychic barrier while simultaneously throwing them around like rag dolls using her psychokinesis. Lana warned Lynn of her psychic stun ability as the latter moved in close with an attempt to break through Lisa's shield with one megaton punch. Though the attack sent shockwaves throughout the entire basement lab that shattered beakers and caused computers to explode in a shower of sparks, Lisa's barrier someone held strong. The effort to keep the shield up took a considerable toll on Lisa, exhausting her and causing her to have to briefly lower her guard.

Lana tried taking advantage of that fact by changing into a tigress and making a lunge at Lisa. Lisa saw the attack coming and caught Lana mid leap, slamming her hard against the wall. Lynn thought that she'd be able to seize the moment by attacking Lisa at that moment, but Lisa turned around and nailed her with the psychic stun, bringing Lynn to her knees.

"So lame, so predictable" Lisa mocked their efforts, hoisting them both by their necks and holding them in the air. "Always trying to solve your problems using brute strength. Unfortunately for you, my intellect gives me the upper hand in any battle."

Lisa slammed the pair hard onto the ground, but Sam quickly bounced back, firing a lightning bolt from her fingertips. As she expected, Lisa dodged, but rather than attack directly, Lynn instead grabbed a nearby desk and tossed it Lisa. Lisa deflected the desk with the psychic equivalent of a backhand, but what she didn't see was Lana standing atop the desk in the form of an ant. Lisa wasn't aware of the trick until she noticed a huge shadow above her and just barely managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid being crushed by a hippo Lana. Lisa ended up rolling right into the path of a punch from Lynn that sent her crashing into the wall. Following up, Lana took the form of a wolf and bit Lisa's right arm, causing her to hiss in pain.

"How's that superior intellect holding up for you now?" Lynn mocked her.

"Don't think that I'm out of the fight just yet," Lisa advised her two adversaries, attempting to use her psychic stun attack a second time. Since she could only use it on one opponent at a time, she took out Lynn first before turning her attention to Lana.

Lana didn't even give her a chance to try that trick on her as she took a bite at Lisa's neck. With a split second to react accordingly, Lisa launched her knee into Lana's jaw, deterring her for the brief moment. Lana went to attack again, but that split second decision from Lisa left her with a wide enough opening to stun Lana a second time. Neither sister was ready to surrender as indicated by them taking a battle stance. Utilizing super speed, Lynn appeared behind Lisa and tried to deliver a kick to her back that was only blocked by Lisa throwing up her psychic shield before hand. Once again, Lynn distracted Lisa long enough for Lana to land a blow on her, this time in the form of gorilla punch.

Having taken some heavy hits, Lisa resorted to throwing up her barrier once again to protect her. Rather than grab her opponents, Lisa grabbed two desktop computer and smashed them over the heads of Lynn and Lana. Lisa telekinetically grabbed hold of as many objects as she could and sent them flying at the duo, hoping to bury them underneath to allow herself a reprieve. To her credit, the gambit worked for a while, but then Lisa found herself having to deal with even more opposition. Lisa was convinced of her victory and took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before being nailed with a vicious punch to the jaw from one Luna.

"That's for manipulating me," Luna said before launching her foot into Lisa's gut. "_That's _for turning me against my own family" Luna delivered yet another kick and said "And _that_ is for trying to brainwash my girlfriend."

Lisa looked up to see Luna, Sam, Lincoln, and Lio standing in front of her. Each of them wore a scowl and seemed ready to engage in combat with Lisa. While she was confident in her abilities, Lisa knew she couldn't possibly stand up to all of them at once, especially with Lynn and Lana unburying themselves from the rubble.

"Six on one, this hardly seems fair, don't you think?" Lisa said, keeping a cool, calm level head about the situation as she stood to her feet. She was not going to give her siblings the satisfaction of seeing her lose temper. "I suppose this is the part where you beat me up and then make me pay for my supposed crimes, right? That's what happens in these superhero fantasies, right?"

"Wow, you're pretty savvy about how this is going to play out, I'll give you that," Lincoln said as the entire group stared daggers at Lisa. "You know, if you give up now, we can skip the whole "beating you up" thing and go straight to the "making you pay for your crimes" bit."

"Ha, speak for yourself!" Lana hissed. "Personally, I don't feel she's had enough just yet!"

"How interesting," Lisa said sarcastically. "Given that you've surrounded me and I have nowhere to go, it would appear that I am slaves to your whim, no?" Lisa smirked as she came up with a brilliant idea.

She looked over at Lio, who was still being held up by Lincoln. It seemed poetic and fitting that he would help her out one more time.

"I have to admit that I underestimated you lot. You've cornered me like an animal." Lisa said before her smirk grew even wider. "However, you've forgotten just how dangerous and animal can be when cornered."

With that, Lisa psychokinetically grabbed Lio by his throat and held him in the air, strangling him in the process. Without missing a beat, Lana charged at Lisa, only to be hit with a psychic stun that propelled her backwards. The others stood motionless, not knowing what to do. Lynn tried to make a move, only for Lisa to stop her dead in her tracks with a simple sentence.

"Ah, ah, ah, unless you want me to snap his neck like a toothpick, you'll back off!" Lisa told her, causing Lynn to back down. Still keeping her grip on Lio, she retreated into her office and retrieved not only the container of Lio's blood, but also her teleportation belt. "I'm truly sorry that I had to resort to such barbaric methods to get you off my back, but it seemed unlikely that you'd be willing to listen otherwise."

"Let him go, Lisa," Lincoln demanded, not knowing what to do.

"Oh, I will," Lisa said. "Just as long as you keep your distance." The others complied with Lisa's demands and took a step back. "Brother, I do apologize for holding you hostage and hope that you can forgive me someday. Maybe you'll even come to understand that my actions were for a good cause. Until then however…"

With that, Lisa hurled Lio into the Luna, Sam, and Lincoln, knocking them down and allowing her to make a speedy escape via teleportation. Immediately afterwards, the others checked on Lio, who could do nothing but apologize.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Lio said with a cough as he gasped for breath. "She… got away… because of my… weakness… I'm sorry."

"Dude, there is nothing to apologize for," Luna told him. "None of us could've expected her to pull the stunt she did."

"Yeah, we're just glad you're alright," Sam said.

"Man, I wish I had finished her off when I had the chance!" Lana yelled, pointing at Lio and saying "Thanks for getting in the way, idiot! How could you let Lisa take you hostage like that!? Couldn't you have used your shadow powers or something!?"

"That's enough, Lana," Lynn told her. "We were all a little stupid for hesitating to attack." She looked at Lincoln and jokingly said "Especially you, Stincoln. What were you thinking, delivering an entire monologue like that?"

"Hey, I got caught up in the moment," Lincoln said with a shrug.

"What are we going to do about Lisa though?" Lio asked. "Not only did she escape us, she also got away with her version of the cure. We can't let her release it to the public."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Lana said. "Lynn and I managed to get what's essentially a confession of her plans on tape. If she tries anything, all we have to do is leak this to the public and watch her desperately try to fan out the resulting flames."

"Not to mention, she said something about not being able to modify her remedy into a mind control serum," Lynn said. "Thanks to your blood's purifying properties and all. If she insists on making a brainwashing cure, I don't think we'll have to worry about her succeeding for a long time."

"Either way, it's still kinda concerning that she's somewhere out there, free to continue her research," Luna said.

"Yeah, that is a cause for concern," Lincoln agreed. "But it's only a matter of time before she causes trouble again and when she does, we'll be ready for her."

The group could hear more androids coming their way and by the sounds of it, they were talking about hundreds. Despite being confident in their ability to take on all of them, the group decided it was time to leave, with Lincoln giving Lucy a call.

"Oh good, you're alive," Lucy said upon receiving the call. "I was starting to think that you guys had been captured. How did it go?"

"We managed to rescue Lio," Lincoln informed her. "Unfortunately, Lisa managed to escape us."

"I see," Lucy said. "So I'm guessing you need me to teleport you guys out of there?"

"Pretty much," Lincoln said.

On the other end, Lincoln could hear Lucy say "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Before a portal appeared in front of the group a split second later. "Come on, the rest of us are all waiting for you back at the cave," Lucy said, peeking her head out of the portal.

None of the group had to be told twice and instantly stepped through the portal just before the robots reached them, with Lucy closing the portal immediately afterwards.

"That didn't go quite as planned," Lincoln said, still upset over letting Lisa get away.

Lucy seemed to read his thoughts as she told him "There's plenty of time to catch up with her. Don't forget that I can find her at any time using my tracking powers."

"Does that include right now?" Lana asked, seeming impatient. "Because I could go for a one on one with Poindexter, maybe get a chance to sink my teeth into her."

Lucy responded to that statement by using her empathic powers to take away Lana's rage, sarcastically asking her "Better?"

"Yeah, I guess," Lana grumbled.

"I'm sure it won't be too long before your sister pops up again," Haiku said.

"And hopefully when she does, you can stop her for good this time," Chris said, wrapping his arm around Lynn.

"Ugh, the sooner she shows up, the better," Lola groaned before heading for the exit. "I don't know about you guys, but I can't stay cooped up here all night. A pretty bird like me has got to spread her wings, you know."

"Please try not to steal anything," Leni pleaded with her.

"I won't make any promises, but I'll give it a shot," Lana replied before leaving the batcave and disappearing into the night.

As the siblings were settling down, Lincoln received a call from Clyde.

"Clyde? What's up, man?" Lincoln greeted him.

"Well, you know your sister, Lily?" Clyde asked. Lincoln could hear quite a commotion going on in the background, with Lily laughing and Harold McBride shouting "Not the fine China!"

"Yeah, what about her?" Lincoln asked.

"You might wanna get over here and see for yourself," Clyde told him, letting out a sudden "Whoa" before telling Lincoln "You're not going to believe your eyes."

"I'm on my way," Lincoln said, turning to leave with Lio following behind him.

"I'm coming with you," Lio told him, prompting Lincoln to ask "Why?" To which Lio smiled and replied "Are you kidding? It's been ages since I've seen our baby sister." His smile turned into a brief frown as he added "Besides, you never know if this could be the last chance I get to see her."

"Okay?" Lincoln said, not sure of what to make of Lio's statement as the latter quickly regained his chipper composure.

"Come on, let me show you a new trick I discovered back at the lab," Lio said, grabbing Lincoln by his arm and pulling him into the shadows alongside himself.

Lio then took advantage of the nighttime atmosphere to speed through the town until they arrived at the McBride household in less than 4 minutes.

"That's a way quicker way of transportation than just web swinging everywhere, huh?" Lio said as he and Lincoln emerged from the shadows.

The two twins could hear quite the ruckus going on inside the house, punctuated by a series of crashes and loud noises.

"I have a weary feeling about this," Lincoln said as he and Lio opened the door and stepped inside.

Neither twin was prepared for what they saw next. Lily was flying through the air, laughing and giggling all the while as she flew right through the walls like she was some kind of ghost. Occasionally, her body became engulfed in flames, which she shot off in all directions, forcing Howard to use a fire extinguisher to put them out. Still flying through the air, Lily grabbed a juice box off the kitchen table and took a sip before belching, her burps being powerful enough to send shockwaves. In her merriment, Lily ended up knocking over a shelf, which almost fell on top of her before Lily stopped it dead in its tracks and propped it back up. Then, strangest of all, Lily fired a pair of laser beams from her eyes, just narrowly missing Lincoln and Lio in the process.

"Whoa" Lincoln and Lio said before they heard Clyde whisper "Over here!"

The twins looked over and saw the McBrides hiding behind and overturned kitchen table. Wasting little time, the twins rushed over to the family to give them aid.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked.

"We don't know," Howard answered. "Everything was going fine, Lily was watching her favorite TV show when she suddenly got excited over something and started doing these crazy things."

"Like, this just came out of nowhere," Clyde told them. "We don't know what spurred this on or anything."

"It was so strange," Harold said. "One minute she was sitting peacefully on the couch, the next she's levitating in the air and flying around like an airplane."

Lio looked at Lincoln and said "I think it's safe to say that Lily's powers have finally started to manifest themselves."

"Powers?" Harold and Howard asked as Lily flew past the five.

"It's kinda hard to explain," Lio said before making an attempt at it anyway. "Basically, when our family was stricken with the virus, not even Lily was spared from the ailment. As with anyone who survives the illness, we gained a superpower. For the longest time, we were confused about Lily's condition because her powers didn't manifest at the same time the rest of ours did."

"But it looks like Lily was just a late bloomer so to speak," Lincoln said. "That's why she's flying around like a comet and displaying other abilities."

"What confuses me is that she seems to have more than one power," Lio said. "Is it a case like you and Lynn in that your central abilities bring you a multitude of other capabilities… or is it because she's still settling on a single power?"

"So what are we going to do in the meantime?" Howard asked. "If she keeps going at this rate, she's going to destroy the whole house."

"I think I might have a solution," Lincoln said before calling out to Lily. "Oh Lily~!"

That halted Lily's little mindless romp as the moment Lily caught sight of her brothers, she ceased what she was doing and flew right into Lincoln's arms for a hug.

"Aww, did you miss us, Lily?" Lincoln asked. "We really missed you too."

As Lily smiled and giggled, Lincoln began gently rocking her back and forth in his arms, all the while singing her a lullaby. It didn't take long before Lily was lulled into a peaceful sleep.

"That should keep her pacified for a few hours," Lincoln said, gently placing a sleeping Lily down onto the couch.

"It still amazes me just how good you are at calming her down," Lio said, giving his brother a pat on the back.

"We'll stay here and help you guys clean up this mess," Lincoln said to the McBrides.

"Oh, thank you, we'd really appreciate your help," Howard said. "Hopefully, it won't take us too long."

"If it's not too much to ask, do you think you could let Lily still stay with you?" Lio asked, picking up a broom. "We'd perfectly understand if you said no, but-,"

"Oh nonsense," Harold said. "Sure, she may be a handful, but we have no problem letting your sister stay with us."

"After this development, we'll make it a point to stop by every day to check up on her," Lincoln told them. "Just be sure to give us a call if she ever gets out of hand or something like this happens again."

"Don't worry, we'll keep you updated," Clyde told the brothers.

* * *

In a top secret government facility, a woman whose reputation preceded her was making her way to meet face to face with a rather quirky individual who had recently caught her attention. She was accompanied by her assistant and despite the latter's insistence that the person she was seeing was dangerous, she remained rather skeptical.

"So you're telling me that I'm supposed to be quaking with fear because of this girl?" She scoffed as she walked through the halls towards a lone cell at the end of the block.

"You don't understand, ma'am," Her assistant told her. "She's got certain unique qualities to her. She's no ordinary girl."

"Hmm, good," She replied. "I need the most dangerous and even unscrupulous people for this task. The more unusual she is the better."

"I don't know, ma'am," Her assistant tried convincing her. "Many are starting to think that she's too crazy to be controlled. Some of our own agents have testified that there's a type of insanity within her unlike anything we've ever seen."

"We didn't fish her out of that river for nothing!" The woman barked. "We've come too far to back down now!"

"Yes, I understand," Her assistant said, shrinking back.

"The fact that we've held her in our most secure cell seems to be a bit excessive to me. After all, she's only a child, how dangerous can she be?" The woman scoffed as they reached the cell door. "She is in here, right?"

"Yes, Miss Waller" The assistant answered. "She's right through this door."

Amanda Waller took a peep through a small opening in the door and was greeted by the sound of soft giggling. Though the room was near pitch black, Amanda could make out a sinister smile in the darkness, illuminated by light reflecting off of the prisoner's braces.

"I was starting to think you people had forgotten about me. How could you be so _cell_fish as to leave me in this cage? HAHAHA! Get it?"

END ISSUE 13


	14. Issue 14: Shattered Dimensions

It had been one month since the raid on Paxton Industries and for the most part, life had gone back to normal for the Louds. Well, about as normal life could be for a family of super powered kids. In that time period, a lot of interesting things had happened. While she didn't release the cure as she initially planned, Lisa did announce her intention to run for mayor of Royal Woods, something that caught everyone by surprise. As she was still in hiding from her siblings, Lisa made a conscious effort to stay under the radar to avoid giving away her location, as she bounced between her Paxton Industries hideout and her new safe house. She didn't know that her efforts were in vain as Lucy had already tracked her location and could've raided her new base of operations at any time. Despite Lana's insistence, the Louds refrained from going after her just yet, preferring to instead wait until she reached her highest peak before they exposed her and brought her world crashing down. Considering all the trouble she'd put them through, it'd be the sweetest form of revenge they could take.

Until that day came, however Lincoln was content to continue keeping his hometown safe from all threats. True to their word, he and Lio made a habit of stopping by the McBrides every day to check up on Lily. Aside from that initial incident, Lily hadn't caused any more trouble. While she still displayed signs of having powers, she seemed to have gained somewhat better control over them in contrast to the destructive display a month prior. Lincoln looked forward to meeting with Lily later, but for right now, he had a patrol he had to complete. At the very least, he could count on Clyde to keep him updated not just on the affairs of Royal Woods, but also on how Lily was faring until the time came when he could see her himself.

At the moment, Lincoln was swinging through the air without a care in the world as he enjoyed what had so far been a peaceful day. Partially to show off and partially to give the crowd of onlookers below something to be wowed by, Lincoln performed a few midair tricks, executing a number of corkscrews and flips to showcase his agility. One of Lincoln's favorite tricks was to dive bomb towards the ground, tricking the audience into thinking he was going to face plant into the concrete, only to fire another web and swoop back into the air at the last possible second. Lincoln practically had the citizens of Royal Woods eating out of the palm of his hands when he received a call from Clyde.

"Yo, Clyde, what's up?" Lincoln asked.

"We've got a bank robbery in progress downtown," Clyde informed him. "The police report says there are 3 suspects in total, all of them armed and that they're holding multiple people hostage. Police have tried storming the bank only to be pushed back by the robbers each time. Things are looking rather dire, think you're up for the task?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Lincoln replied with a hint of smugness. "Of course I'm up for the task. Heck, the bank's not even that far from where I'm at currently. These wannabe tough guys won't even know what hit em after I'm done with them."

With that, Lincoln head over to the bank as quickly as possible. When he arrived on the scene, he found a swarm of police cars outside the bank while terrified witnesses watched the scene unfold. A hostage negotiator was present, trying to convince the robbers inside to at least release a child that was being held hostage. Lincoln made sure to stay out of the public view, knowing that if his presence became known, it could easily make the situation go from bad to worse in an instance.

"Please, just listen to us," The hostage negotiator pleaded. "Just let the child go safely and we can discuss this civilly."

A single gunshot rang out, causing both Lincoln and the crowd to jump in fright with a few of the onlookers letting out a scream. "Now you listen here," One of the robbers yelled. "No one and I mean no one is allowed to leave until our demands are met! We want you pigs to back off and provide us with a clear passageway to the train station! Until then, no one goes free!"

"I was going to wait and see if things could be resolved without my interference," Lincoln thought to himself as he looked for a way inside the bank without being seen. "But if these guys are willing to shoot bullets all willy nilly without concern for others lives, I can't afford to wait any longer. I've got to get in their somehow."

Lincoln found his way inside when he spotted a window on the side of the bank that was obscured from public view. Without wasting a single second, Lincoln sneaked over to that side of the bank, crawled up the wall and opened up the window before making his way inside. Once he was inside the bank, he found, much to his relief, that none of the hostages had been harmed. All of them were lying on the floor with their hands behind their heads as the three robbers paced about, holding assault rifles in their hands and occasionally pointing them at the horrified hostages. The robbers were all wearing dark, navy blue suits along with balaclavas to hide their faces, with each man holding a duffel bag filled with cash over their shoulders.

"Man Frankie, things have really hit the fan," One robber said to the apparent leader of the trio.

"Don't say my name, dipstick!" Frankie yelled at him. "Now you've made it real easy for the cops to track us down. We wouldn't even be in this mess if Mike had done his job right and kept a proper lookout."

"Hey, cut me some slack," Mike tried to defend himself. "I was busy trying to make sure none of the chumps tried to play hero or make a run for it. Also, what happened to not saying our names?"

"Hey, you're the one who blew the heist so I figured that you were expendable" Frankie answered honestly.

"Do you really think the police are going to give into our demands?" The unnamed criminal asked his cohorts.

"They don't have a choice," Frankie answered. "Unless they wanna come in and find these people's brains splattered all over the walls."

"You probably should've asked for an escape helicopter," The unnamed robber suggested.

"Nah, that's too cliche," Mike said. "He should've asked for an unmarked car that we could use to escape by blending in with the rush hour traffic."

"If you ask me, you guys should've asked for the number of a good attorney," Lincoln intervenes, making himself known to the trio. "After all, You're probably going to need one when this is through."

"Great job keeping lookout, Mike" Frankie said sarcastically as he and the others all simultaneously opened fire on Lincoln, who dodged their bullets, but stayed in the same general place in order to draw their fire away from the civilians. "Now you've let another idiot sneak up on us!"

"You know, there are so many other ways you could spend your time," Lincoln taunted the trio as he continually dodged their gunfire. "You could be reading a book, learning a trade, maybe even go for a nice walk on the beach." Lincoln used web to snatch the assault rifles out of their hand before he broke them in half over his knee. "But this… this just seems like a waste. I mean, what would your mothers say if they saw what you were doing?"

"Will you shut up!?" The unnamed robber yelled before picking up a paper weight and throwing it at Lincoln, who caught it in his hands and tossed it back at the bumbling burglar, hitting him in the head and knocking him out cold.

"Sorry about that, I was aiming for your chest," Lincoln sarcastically apologized. "Then again, I always did have lousy aim and throwing was more of my sister's thing." Lincoln hopped off the wall, down to the floor and challenged the two remaining robbers, asking "Anyone else wanna step up to the plate?"

Mike immediately accepted Lincoln's challenge, rushing at the young superhero and attempting to throw a punch at him, only for Lincoln to drop down and use his legs to monkey flip Mike onto his back. Frankie was the next to engage Lincoln, grabbing a pen off of one of the teller's desk and trying to stab Lincoln with it.

"Really? A pen?" Lincoln deadpanned, shooting Frankie a look that just screamed "You're an idiot". "Out of all the improvisible weapons that are at your disposal, you choose a pen. You could've picked up one of the stanchions and attempted to bludgeon me with it. You could've used its rope to try and strangle me. Heck, you could've even used the duffel bag on your back to hit me upside the head, yet you chose a pen?"

"You talk way too much, kid," Frankie snarled, making an attempt at stabbing Lincoln through his eye.

Lincoln actually stood completely still as if taking pity on the criminal stooge and giving him a free shot, only to cock his head slightly to his side, grab Frankie by his arm and throw him into the teller's kiosk, knocking him out cold. Mike made one last attempt at Lincoln, actually taking Lincoln's advice and trying to hit him over the head with a stanchion, only for Lincoln to turn around and render him unconscious with a stiff uppercut.

"That should take care of that," Lincoln said, congratulating himself as he tied up the robbers with web before he heard a gunshot behind him. Thanks to his spider senses, Lincoln was just barely able to dodge the bullet that had been fired at him. "What the?"

Lincoln turned around to find seemingly another robber standing before him. Unlike the three criminals he'd just taken down, this robber wore a light purple suit and instead of a balaclava, wore a fishnet pantyhose over his face, which did nothing to conceal his identity. Also different from the other robbers was that he held a revolver in his hand, in place of an assault rifle.

"Clyde said that there were only 3 robbers, where did this fourth guy come from?" Lincoln asked himself before there was quick flash accompanied by a ripple effect and the fourth robber had vanished without a trace. "What the? Where did he go?"

At just that moment, police swarmed the bank, relieved to find that all of the hostages were okay and surprised to find Spider-Ace waiting for them.

"Spider-Ace?" The Chief questioned. "As unexpected as your appearance is, I sure am glad to see you. Can you give us an account of just what happened?"

"The short version is that I sneaked inside, took out these bozos with ease and then you guys came in," Lincoln said. "I was going to let you guys handle it, but when I found out that kids were involved, I couldn't just sit idly by. Fortunately, these clowns were rather easy to take care of."

"How many suspects are we dealing with?" The chief asked.

"I thought that I was only dealing with 3, but it turns out that there was a fourth guy accompanying them that I didn't know about," Lincoln informed him, only for one of the hostages to chime in.

"Actually, you were right, there _were_ only 3 robbers" A woman chimed in. "They just kicked in the door and demanded everyone get on the ground!"

"But I could've sworn that-," Lincoln said before another man came to his aid.

"No, I saw the same thing that you did," He said. "There was another man dressed in a purple suit, wearing pantyhose and holding a revolver. I didn't get a good look at his face because he disappeared a few seconds later like some sort of ghost."

"So I wasn't just seeing things," Lincoln said to himself.

"Purple?" Another man scoffed. "His suit was clearly white!"

"Are you blind?" Another woman chimed in. "The suit was clearly tan colored."

"Alright, alright, everyone calm down," The chief said. "We'll make sure to get all of your accounts of what happened."

After recounting his version of what had happened, Lincoln made a hasty departure, calling Clyde back after all was said and done.

"So how'd it go?" Clyde asked him.

"It went just as I expected," Lincoln answered. "I arrived and kicked bad guy butt in less than five minutes. Then something strange happened."

"What happened?" Clyde asked him.

"After I'd taken care of the three robbers, some weird fourth guy appeared out of nowhere and tried to shoot me," Lincoln answered. "And then, just as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared into thin air."

"Do you think that you could possibly be dealing with another super powered person?" Clyde asked. "Or even someone sent after you by your sister? I mean after all, she does have teleportation technology."

"This is more than just teleportation," Lincoln said. "This guy was dressed as if he were an accomplice to the trio I took down. Like I don't know how to explain it, but it was almost as if he were from another world."

"That does sound strange," Clyde said. "But still, there's a good chance that your sister could be behind this,"

"You're right about that," Lincoln acknowledged. "I'll talk to Lio, Lynn and Lucy about this later, see what they think about it."

* * *

Lincoln had no idea of knowing that he wouldn't be the only Loud go encounter something strange that day. Leni was going about her day without a care in the world, basking in the sunlight as she soared through the air. She had just left her job at the mall and was on her way to her apartment when she received a phone call from her boyfriend, Chaz.

"Hey Chaz!" Leni cheerfully greeted him. "Sorry I haven't had time to talk to you lately, I've just been so busy lately."

"It's fine," Chaz said. "I was just starting to get worried about you. You said something about your little sister being on the loose and I thought that maybe she'd gotten to you."

"Nah, I'm fine," Leni assured him with a laugh. "In fact, none of have heard anything from Lisa since she announced her bid for mayor."

"Still, it's been a while since we've seen each other," Chaz said. "What do you say we try and meet up with each other some time this week. Maybe hang out like old times."

"Oh, I'd love to!" Leni gushed. "I hear the carnival's coming to town this week, maybe we can go together!"

"Yeah, that sounds like it'd be a load of fun!" Chaz said cheerfully. "I'll be sure not to forget my wallet this time so that I can buy you cotton candy and win you the biggest stuffed animal you've ever seen."

"Awww, you don't have to do that," Leni told him, growing more excited by the idea with each passing second. "I just want to be able to see you again!"

"Same!" Chaz said. "I mean, I just can't wait to give you the biggest hug of your life next time I see you!"

"Just be careful not to crush me," Leni joked with a laugh. "I know it's easy for you to forget your own strength when you get really happy!"

"Sorry," Chaz apologized. "You know me though, I'm the type of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve… which becomes kind of weird whenever I wear a tank top. Like, how can I wear my heart on my sleeve when I don't have sleeves?"

"That's a good question," Leni replied, stopping midair to think for a second. "I guess you could still wear your heart on your arm, but that doesn't have quite the same effect."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Chaz said. "Anyway, the point is that I can't wait to see you again! I'm going to make our time together special just for you!"

"And I look forward to it," Leni told him as she resumed flight. "I'll make sure I'm dressed my best just for you." She took a moment to pause before giggling and saying "Wow, I think I've turned into my sister Lori with how I talk to you."

"Really?" Chaz asked. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No!" Leni giggled. "I'm just saying that I get a lot more mushy when I'm talking to you. The only thing that keeps me from becoming a full on Lori is the fact that I don't say "literally"."

"Oh, good," Chaz said, breathing a sigh of relief. "For a second I thought that meant that I was starting to annoy you."

"Don't be silly," Leni said, telling Chaz "You could never in a million years start to annoy me."

"You promise?" Chaz asked.

"I promise," Leni said, willing to talk to Chaz for hours before she noticed a sudden strange ripple effect that sent small shockwaves throughout the town, leaving her confused. The sudden change caught Leni off guard, causing her to lose focus and suddenly smack headfirst into a tree branch that appeared from literally out of nowhere.

"Hello? Hello?" Chaz said. "Leni, are you still there?"

Leni was too dazed from the blow to her head to answer right away, but upon sitting up, noticed immediately that something was very wrong. Of course, it would've been more surprising if Leni _didn't _notice something was wrong seeing as the town she called home now looked completely different. In place of the vibrant buildings and lively atmosphere was a town filled with decrepit buildings that looked like they were being held together by mere scotch tape and was overrun by wild plant life. Debris such as the shards of glass, old tires, bricks, old broken down cars and plaster littered the streets. Aside from the vegetation and a few stray birds, there seemed to be no other signs of life, as if Royal Woods had become a ghost town. As if everyone had suddenly up and left in a hurry, either that or they all perished without warning.

It was eerily quiet, with the only noise being provided by the howling wind. Despite having a vaguely post apocalyptic appearance, this version of Royal Woods still somehow had that vibrant serene feel to it with the sun shining brightly on the lively city. That contrast in mood only served to make the place seem even more creepy as Leni could only stare in shock and awe. She looked around, desperately trying to find anyone else in this devastated landscape, only to be greeted by silence. There was another ripple effect and suddenly Leni found herself back in the Royal Woods she was familiar with, with Chaz calling out her name.

"Leni? Hello?" Chaz said.

"Oh, sorry Chaz, I don't know what just happened, but it was strange," Leni told him.

"You went quiet for around ten seconds and I didn't know what had happened," Chaz informed her.

"Ten seconds!?" Leni replied. "I was only gone for 10 seconds!? It felt like I was gone for an hour!"

"Gone where?" Chaz asked.

"Like, there was this weird creepy version of Royal Woods," Leni explained. "It was like, there were no people there and it looked as if the whole town had been destroyed or something!"

"That sounds terrifying," Chaz said.

"Considering I hit my head on a branch, it was probably just a daydream or something," Leni tried brushing it off.

"You hit your head?" Chaz asked. "Are you going to be okay after that?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Leni said, shaking her head as she took flight again and tried pushing what she had seen out of her head. "So when should we try to meet with each other?

* * *

With Lisa seemingly in hiding, Lola figured that she was safe to resume her jewel thieving as usual. Her latest target was a set of unique, one of a kind gemstones known as the Hysteria Beryl, worth more than $7 million and currently on display at Royal Woods museum. As always, Lola wasn't in this for the money, but rather for the challenge as she planned on stealing the gems in broad daylight and walking out without raising any suspicion whatsoever. Knowing that such as task would require covert sneaking around, Lola was wearing what she felt was the perfect disguise. A sun hat and scarf to help obscure her face along with a pair of dark sunglasses to hide her eyes. She carried nothing but a small purse and wore clothes that wouldn't garner too much attention; a simple pink T-shirt, shorts and a pair of sneakers.

Acting as sly as ever, Lola blended in with a crowd of guests for a tour of the museum. Lola knew she'd have to play her cards right and be patient if she wanted to walk away with the Hysteria Beryl. For the most part, Lola played her role to perfection. She oohed and aww'ed like the rest of the crowd when the guide showed them exciting exhibits. She'd take pictures and selfies with the artifacts on display, laugh at the guide's cheesy jokes whenever appropriate and just acted like any other tourist would. All of which served to take suspicion off of her when the guide finally showed the group the Hysteria Beryl that she had came for in the first place. Lola displayed the usual signs of intrigue and interest at the display, but when the crowd moved on to the next display, she stayed behind to snatch her prize.

The setup seemed almost too easy. There were no guards around to catch her in the act, no obnoxious tourists to get in her way and the lone security camera seemed to be focused elsewhere. Just to be on the safe side however, Lola pulled her trademark putty out of her purse and used it to obscure the camera. She then took a second to marvel at just how beautiful the gems were up close. Similar to the tiara from a while back, Lola almost felt tempted to keep this prize for herself rather than sell it on the black market. Lola slowly lifted the display case and reached to grab the gems and place them in her purse. Just as she did so however, there was a flash accompanied by a strange ripple effect. Lola shook it off as nothing of concern only to look down and see the Hysteria Beryl had been replaced by a set of emeralds, marked as the "Madness Emeralds".

"Okay, I'll bite, what kind of a twisted joke is this?" Lola asked, looking around in confusion and half expecting a security guard or someone to pop up from around the corner and tell her that she was busted. "The Madness Emeralds? Seriously? Who's pulling my leg?"

There was another ripple effect and suddenly Lola found herself staring back at the Hysteria Beryl. To say that Lola had no idea what just happened would be putting it lightly. The young thief rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't just seeing things. While what had just happened was certainly strange, Lola wasn't going to question it. At least, not until she had escaped safe and sound with the precious gems. Without wasting a single effort, Lola loaded the gems into her purse before making a hasty departure. Perhaps the stress of the theft had caused her to hallucinate. Whatever the case may be, Lola didn't figure it was any big deal.

* * *

Whenever she needed some time away from her siblings, there was a sunflower field that Lori could always visit for some peace. The field held some significance to Lori as it was the place where she and Bobby had went on their first date. Any time she came to this field, she felt at peace with the world. She could allow happy memories from a better time flood her mind as she kicked back and relaxed. Truth be told, she was starting to consider taking Bobby up on his offer to come live with his family. If, by some chance, Lori did end up unintentionally infecting them with the virus, she figured she could always bring Lio around to heal them. Whether Lio wanted to go or not. For that matter, she could probably be the caring big sister that she was and also bring Lincoln along too so that he'd have the chance to see Ronnie Anne again.

Lori took a moment to look out into the distance and see the skyline of Royal Woods in the background. For all the trouble life had given her over the past year or so, it felt nice to be able to kick back and relax for once. Lori started to think about the future and what it possibly held in store for her. Before the whole virus outbreak started, she had planned on either attending classes at Royal Woods University or moving to Great Lakes and enroll in community college there so that she could be close to her boyfriend. With things having seemingly calmed down for the moment, maybe Lori could pick up where she left off. It would sure beat hiding in a cave and getting into fights with cat callers who harassed as she walked down the street.

Despite her temper, which went hand in hand with her abilities, to anyone who read between the lines, it was clear that what Lori wanted most of all was to return to a normal life. While she appreciated her powers and how useful they could be, similar to her brother, she didn't enjoy this fast paced action packed life filled with fighting and mayhem. She considered it all to be a waste of time. Unlike her brother however, Lori didn't long for the return of a lost family dynamic as she considered that to be a waste of time too. She still loved her siblings, mind you, but had no qualms leaving them behind for something she seemed better. The only thing Lori felt she needed to worry about was regaining control of her life through any means necessary.

As she reflected on the path she was currently on, Lori couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. Call it intuition, but something just didn't sit right with her. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't relax. Lori turned her back to Royal Woods, prepping to take a walk through the sunflowers. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of fresh air, only to open her eyes to find an empty field of dead plants that was crawling with spiders, beetles, and ants.

"What the!?" Lori exclaimed, recoiling in fright from the site of the creepy crawlers.

She turned around to look at Royal Woods, only to find nothing but a vast forest. It looked as if Royal Woods has never been there in the first place. As Lori looked on in awe, she could hear low grunts coming from the forest. From the sounds of it, they were approaching in her direction as well. Lori didn't know if these forces were friend or foe, but she wasn't going to take the chance. She ignited her hands and geared up for a fight, ready to take on anything that crossed her path. Just as the creatures were set to emerge from the shrubbery, there was a quick flash and Lori found herself standing back in the sunflower field.

"Okay, what just happened?" Lori asked, looking around frantically. "Was somebody just messing with me or did Royal Woods just vanish into thin air for a few seconds?"

While anyone else would've shook the incident off, Lori knew better. Something strange was going on and if she were a betting woman, Lori would guess that one of her siblings had something to do with it. For right now though, there were more important matters at hand, such as answering the incoming phone call she was getting from Bobby.

* * *

In the one month that had passed since they'd been reunited, Lynn had almost completely gotten over Chris' six month long absence. While it helped that he had a genuinely good reason for leaving it, it also had to do with the fact that Lynn just couldn't hold a grudge against Chris. At least, not for more than a week. Of course, now that Chris was back, Lynn was keeping her promise to never leave his side again. Nor would she let him leave her side again. It was strange to say, but their brief separation had only brought them closer together. At the moment, the two were playing a game of catch at the school's football field, with Chris helping to explain some of the finer details of Lynn's powers.

"Okay, I know you're smart and all, but there's no way you can explain my invisibility ability," Lynn said, tossing Chris the ball.

"Oh, pfft, that's easy light is electromagnetic radiation, as such the electron is the carrier particle of the photon, the particle that makes up light. by creating a vibrating electric force field around her she's basically wiping the photon's electromagnetic data free of-," Chris started to explain, catching the ball before Lynn cut him off.

"Alright, alright, I guess I was wrong," Lynn said with a laugh as she caught the ball and threw it back at Chris. "Gosh, you can be such a giant nerd sometimes."

"Yeah, but I'm your giant nerd," Chris said with a cheeky grin as he caught the ball and threw it back at Lynn.

"You know, I wonder," Lynn said, catching the ball. "If you're so smart, why haven't _you _created any high tech inventions?"

"Because…" Chris said as he awaited Lynn to toss him the ball again. "Every idea I came up with had already been thought of." As he caught the ball in his hands, he added, "Besides, I'm not really the best at building things without my energy constructs."

"Figures," Lynn said as they finished tossing the ball to each other. She walked over to Chris and the two held hands. "Although then again, with that Blue Lantern ring of yours, you probably don't _need_ to invent anything."

"This thing is actually harder to use than you might think," Chris said, holding the ring up for Lynn to see as the two began their walk home. "Blue Light is the most powerful of all the lights, but it requires a ton of skill to use. Trust me, it took me a long time to finally master this baby." Chris chuckled and teased "It'd probably only take you 1 day to control this ring."

"One day?" Lynn jokingly scoffed. "What kinda loser do you take me for? Give me 6 hours tops and that I'd have that ring a slave to my whims."

"Oh, that's right, how silly of me," Chris laughed. "I hope you can forgive me for underestimating your greatness."

"I guess I can let it slide just this once, but-," Lynn said before she heard something strange, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Is everything alright?" Chris asked, noticing a change in Lynn's demeanor.

"Do you hear that?" Lynn asked him, causing Chris to stop and take a closer listen. Listening carefully, the two could hear what sounded like soft sobbing in the distance.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I kind of hear it too," Chris said before asking Lynn "Think we should suit up for this?"

"Just to be safe, yeah," Lynn replied before whispering "Shazam" to change into her more powerful alter ego while Chris did the same.

Standing back to back, the couple looked around, trying to find where the noise had come from. They heard a sniffle behind them and turned in that direction, hoping to find whoever was in distress. What the saw instead nearly gave them the shock of their lives. Looking down, Lynn and Chris briefly though that they were looking in a mirror when they came face to face with themselves. It soon became apparent that these were no mere reflections they were looking at as their apparent doppelgangers had a few different distinguishing features from the Chris and Lynn we've been following.

For starters, both the other Lynn and Chris were a bit shorter than and had softer facial features than the originals. In contrast to the lean yet athletic build that the original Lynn had, the other Lynn had a more lithe figure to her. Both the other Chris and Lynn had wider, almost chibi-esque eyes. The other Chris had longer hair and a glowing aura to him. The other Lynn's hair was, for lack of a better word, floofier, something that made her look more adorable. The soft sobbing came to a halt as the other Lynn and Chris stared directly into the eyes of the originals. None of the four spoke a word, instead simply looking at each other with intrigue. Finally, both sets of Chris and Lynn slowly reached out to each other. Just before their hands could touch, there was a strange ripple effect and just like that, the other Lynn and Chris had disappeared. Following that, there was about half a minute of awkward silence before the couple said anything.

"What just?" Chris started to ask. "Did you see the same thing that I saw?"

"You mean the two lookalikes who came out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly?" Lynn replied. "Yeah, I saw that too. What was that about?"

"I wish I could explain it, but I can't," Chris said.

"I don't think anyone is capable of explaining what just happened," Lynn told him. "But I have a feeling we'll get an answer to our question soon enough."

* * *

Lana was back in her natural habitat in the form of the woods outside Royal Woods. She'd made it a habit of visiting her siblings more frequently and had even come to rekindle the close relationship she once had with them. She wouldn't admit it, but she was starting to grow fond of their company again. Still, a girl needed time for herself, thus she spent many hours roaming through the woods in various animal forms. As proof that her time with her family had slowly been softening her heart, she hadn't attacked any littering hikers at all in the past two weeks, instead settling for simply scaring them off.

At the moment, Lana was enjoying a swim through the river in the form of a catfish. She enjoyed swimming against the current and occasionally jumping out of the water. She made sure to keep an eye out for any predators that might try to feast on her; although then again, considering her ability to talk to animals, that likely wouldn't be much of a problem. After several minutes of swimming, Lana leapt out of the water and reverted to her human form. She took a moment to stretch before transforming into a wolf and shaking herself dry. That's when her nose picked up a strange scent. A scent that seemed familiar, yet foreign to her at the same time.

Lana wasted no time following the scent, her curiosity getting the better of her. Something was off about this situation, she could feel it. Lana wondered what she'd potentially come across. At this point, she felt that there was nothing that could surprise her. She'd truly seen it all at this point. She could be picking up the scent of a 4 eyed alien riding a unicycle while dressed as Tina Turner and her response would be an uninterested "meh". Following her nose, Lana came across a set of railroad tracks. That was rather strange, considering that they were in the middle of a forest. At least, that's where Lana thought she was. Taking a look around, Lana found that she was not in a forest, but instead in the middle of what looked like a desert.

"Well, this is a sudden change of scenery," Lana said wryly, changing into her human form. She took a look around before asking "So what is going on here? Did following that smell lead me all the way to the desert or something?"

In the distance, Lana could hear a train approaching, before she was nearly trampled by a horse. Lana was quick enough to jump out of the horse's path and looked up to see a young blonde woman with her hair tied in a ponytail riding proudly atop the equine with a determined look on her face. Lana didn't get to look for two long before she heard a series of gunshots and looked behind her to see what looked like 11 outlaws riding atop horses and chasing after the young woman. Their faces were covered by bandanas and they were firing wildly at their target. Wondering what would happen if she were to lend the young woman a hand, Lana transformed into a horse and ran in between the woman and the 11 riders before using her hind legs to kick one of the outlaws off their horse and tumbling to the ground.

Rather than help their fallen ally, the outlaws continued to chase after the woman. One of the outlaws decided to deal with Lana however and fired his revolver at her. Lana dodged the bullet, but one of the other outlaws rammed his horse into Lana and knocked her onto the railroad tracks. Lana lost her footing and to avoid snapping her leg in her horse form, changed back into a human form and hit the ground hard. Shaking and rubbing her head, Lana looked up just in time to see a locomotive coming her way, a mere seconds from running her over, causing her to close her eyes. When she reopened them, she found herself lying underneath a tree.

"Phew! It was just a dream," Lana said with a sigh before she noticed a pair of horse tracks on the forest floor. "Wait a second…" Lana stood you her feet and took a look around. She could as back in the same place she'd been, but the presence of horse track meant that it couldn't have been mere dream, could it? "Calm down Lana, you probably made those tracks yourself in your sleep. Nothing more, nothing less"

Lana knew that her explanation didn't hold water, but she couldn't think of another possibility that made any more sense. Maybe in time, everything would make sense and she could put this strange incident behind her.

* * *

Neither Luna or Sam missed a beat after Sam was healed, picking up their relationship exactly where it had left off. The two lovebirds were currently on something of a date, recreating the scavenger hunt that was an integral part of their first "official" date. At the moment, Luna and Sam were on their way to the arcade for a friendly game of laser tag. Hopefully, this game would go better than last time. Sam admittedly was a little nervous about trying her hand at the game again, but Luna had insisted they give it another try just to commemorate the date. Afterwards, Luna suggested that they could visit that vegan juice place that Sam loved so much. Little did Luna know that Sam had a few tricks up her sleeve when it came to this game of laser tag.

While her aim could still use a ton of improvement, Sam found that she could use her electrokinesis to fire off tiny invisible bolts of electricity at the opponent's chest sensors. Doing so would activate said sensors, causing them to react in the same way they would've if they'd been shot with the laser guns. Using this method, Sam racked up quite a few eliminations while her competitors were none the wiser. Not even Luna was aware of Sam's trick, causing the latter to smirk with a hint of pride. Despite having something of a reputation as a goody two shoes, Sam had no problems playing dirty from time to time as long as she had fun. Needless to say, the team of Sam and Luna won the game easily. The two high fived each other before Luna challenged Sam to a 1v1 game of laser tag.

"I dunno Rockstar, I'm not sure if you can measure up to my skill," Sam said with a teasing smirk.

"Wow, you win one game and score a few eliminations and you suddenly think you're the Queen of the World?" Luna replied, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Well, I know for certain that I'm the Queen of _your _world," Sam said, causing Luna to blush. "Now be a good girl and bow to your queen and dismiss this silly talk of a one on one game."

"What's the matter, your highness, chicken?" Luna taunted her.

"Okay, just don't say I didn't warn you," Sam said, accepting Luna's challenge.

The two began their game, starting on opposite ends of the maze before they began slowly making their way towards each other. The two kept a close ear out for one another, hoping to spring a trap. Each had their own advantages. Luna had the speedy reaction time and better aim, while Sam of course, had her cheap trick. The two could hear each other's footsteps and knew that they were getting closer to each other. Both prepared for a standoff and cautiously started to round the corner. As they rounded the corner and aimed their laser guns at each other, the maze around them disappeared and rather than finding themselves in an arcade, the pair found themselves in what looked like a futuristic utopia city.

"Is this some sort of new holographic background trick?" Sam asked, calling a ceasefire.

"I don't think this has anything to do with holograms, luv," Luna said as the two took a look around. She quickly got over the initial shock and asked "So what do you think this is? Time vortex or some other sci-fi explanation?"

"Time vortex?" Sam questioned. "Do you really think we're in that territory?"

"Well I can't think of any other way to explain why we've been taken to what looks like the future," Luna said. "The only question is how are we going to get back?"

No sooner than the words left Luna's mouth did the two find themselves back in the arcade, still in the middle of their game.

"Apparently, like that," Sam said with a cheeky grin. "So did we just imagine that or did we really venture into the future."

"I'm not sure," Luna said. "What I do know however…"

Luna raised her laser gun and aimed at Sam, only for Sam to instinctively raise her hand and fire a bolt into Luna's sensor, winning Sam the game while also giving away her con.

"Yes! I won!" Sam celebrated, smirking and telling Luna "I told you that you couldn't measure up."

"Did you just eliminate me without shooting me?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um… about that…" Sam said with a giggle.

"Sam, you cheater!" Luna said before she and Sam tossed aside their gear. "I'm gonna get you for that!" She said playfully.

"You're going to have to catch me first!" Sam said, sticking her tongue out at Luna before she started running away.

"Get back here!" Luna said, giving chase.

* * *

When Lincoln called for a sibling meeting at Lucy's cave to discuss what he described as "something strange", the others were eager to join in. Within a few minutes, the Loud siblings, save for one, had gathered at Lucy's cave to talk about the various things that had happened to them throughout the day.

"I'm telling you guys something weird is going on," Lincoln told his sisters. "Like, when I was thwarting this bank robbery, some fourth dude literally came out of nowhere and tried to shoot me before disappearing. And even stranger, everyone had a different account of what the would be shooter looked like."

"Pfft, that's nothing," Lola scoffed. "I was stealing- er, I mean checking out these special gems at the museum when they were suddenly swapped out with these freaky emeralds"

"You call that weird?" Lana scoffed. "I was teleported to some desert in the Wild West!"

"Oh please," Lynn brushed her off. "Chris and I literally came face to face with chibi versions of ourselves, beat that."

"Oh yeah, well we were-," "That's nothing, I was-," "You think that's bad, I was-,"

It didn't take long before the discussion devolved into an argument between the siblings over who had the more bizarre experience. Finally, Lucy and Haiku had enough and spoke up to quell the bickering.

"QUIET!" They both shouted in what was a rare instance of them raising their voice. Lucy then spoke up.

"It's clear that you've all been through something weird," She said. "While I myself haven't experienced anything out of the ordinary, I did notice that a few of you guys just randomly up and disappeared for a couple of seconds at various times throughout the day." Lucy looked at Lynn and said "And in one case, picked up two identical presences."

"So what are you saying?" Leni asked.

"What I'm saying is that you guys haven't been hallucinating or anything," Lucy told them.

"Do you think you can explain what's happening?" Lori asked.

Lucy shook her head and said "No. Whatever's going on, it's definitely got some supernatural origin. That much is clear."

"I don't think this is supernatural," Lincoln said. "I think this is the work of a certain sister of ours…"

"So you think Lisa is behind this?" Chris asked him.

Lincoln nodded and said "It makes the most sense. She's up to something and I'm going to figure out what it is…"

END ISSUE 14


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